The truth behind Kim and Prince’s love affair
Stars were like teens in steamy fling
She was the nicest person on the planet. Everybody loved her. She went out that Christmas and bought us all presents
Until now it was known as a brief fling, one of Prince’s many love affairs with beautiful women.
But it turns out that music star Prince and Hollywood actress Kim Basinger were like “teenagers in love” during their relationship, and almost ended up a long-term couple. The strength of the relationship is emerging in a book about Prince’s life and career, featuring interviews with more than 200 people he knew.
It details how Prince would have met Kim on the set of 1989’s Batman, where she was playing Vicki Vale and he was to write and perform an album. He sent a cassette sample of his LP to lead actors Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton and Kim, to get feedback.
Prince’s PA Therese Stoulil recalls: “Michael didn’t get back, Jack asked for money because we sampled him and Kim called the office to thank him.
“I put her through to his office. They had a very short conversation.” Whatever happened on set and in that brief phone call was enough to start a relationship that would last for around a year.
Prince soon told Therese: “She’s coming to Minneapolis for a visit.
Get a really nice hotel room.” The best suite at the city’s Sofitel was duly booked and filled with flowers, candles and cushions.
But Kim never enjoyed any of it. She went straight to Prince’s home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and rarely left in the months to come except to join him in the studio. Minneapolis was her base and the pair became inseparable.
Within a few days, Kim’s peach Mercedes was parked on the drive and her belongings arrived soon after. She fell deeply in love.
At this stage, in her mid-30s, she was on the brink of superstardom herself, having already made a mark in 1986’s 9½ Weeks opposite Mickey Rourke. Prince was already a global celebrity thanks to hits including 1999 and Purple Rain.
In the book Prince: A Sign o’ the
Times, Therese adds of Kim: “She was the nicest person on the planet.
“Everybody loved her. She went out that Christmas [1989] and bought us all presents. I don’t think, in 10 years, I had ever seen Prince happier.”
She added: “They would go shopping together, and Prince never went out shopping. It was actually very adorable. They would stop in all the little shops.
“It looked like a couple of teenagers in love. They were just taken with each other. It was fabulous.”
Prince’s then make-up artist Terra Hinrichs agrees that Kim was madly in love with her boss. She added: “I couldn’t figure it out. She is stunning.”
Things escalated to the point that Kim had her assistant flown over to field calls from Hollywood about her future roles. Kim even got involved in the music side of Prince’s life too and they collaborated on a remix of the ballad from the Batman soundtrack, a song called Scandalous.
The private recording session may have been apt for the track’s title too... as engineer Sal Greco recalls finding honey all over the mixing desk the next morning.
After their own raunchy studio time, Kim was also put in charge of recording some female singers’ work for Prince too, encouraging them to sound sexy.
Terra said: “She seemed almost trying too hard. She’s telling these girls to ‘be nasty’ and it seemed out of character for her. She was crazy about him. I loved Kim.” The book says that in 1990, with the relationship escalating, she began looking to buy property in the area.
But just when it seemed they could be a Hollywood power couple, Prince got cold feet. Guitar tech Mike Soltys recalls of the pair at one photoshoot: “She was directing it. “I could tell it was not rubbing him right.” Kim has always stayed silent about their romance. Asked in 2016 about their affair and apparent trysts in the studio, her spokesman said: “We must kindly pass on this request.”
Kim, now 71, offered no comment to book author John McKie either.
And she may not have been the only woman in Prince’s life at the time. Singer Elisa Fiorillo, who had her second album produced at Prince’s HQ in 1990, recalls: “We were very good friends and it turned into something else, which was funny for me.”
Elisa says she dated Prince between 1989 and 1991 but the lack of exclusivity eventually wore her down.
She tells McKie: “I felt very loved but I felt I wasn’t the only one and I couldn’t do that.”
And according to Elisa, Prince may have been seeing other women too.
She says: “I remember leaving and I saw Susannah Hoffs coming in. One time I was in LA and Sheena Easton came in. I’m sure there were others.”
Prince was also married twice – first to Mayte Garcia in 1996. Their child Amiir, born in October that year, died six days later. The relationship deteriorated a couple of years later but they did not divorce until 2000.
In 2001 the singer wed Canadian charity worker Manuela Testolini. They split in 2006.
Although Prince was single at the time of his death from an accidental fentanyl overdose aged 57 in 2016, he was on good terms with both ex-wives. A magnetic character, he was forever in search of someone to share the music with, though always open to changing the record.
I had ever seen Prince happier. They would go shopping together – and Prince never went shopping. They were just taken with each other. It was fabulous