Sinéad O'Connor Labels Prince "a Violent Abuser of Women"

Her comments come as she recounts meeting the late Purple One in her new memoir 'Rememberings'

BY Brock ThiessenPublished May 18, 2021

Sinéad O'Connor basically stirs up controversy at every turn, so it's no surprise that's now the case with her upcoming memoir Rememberings. As revealed today, the book details her meeting of the late Prince, who she's now labelled "a violent abuser of women."

O'Connor's comments about Prince come in a newly published New York Times profile that she did to drum up press for the book. At one point, the piece shines a light on "Nothing Compares 2 U" — a song originally written by Prince but that effectively made O'Connor a star.

For years, O'Connor has threatened to tell her story of meeting Prince after her success with his song, and — spoiler — she didn't have anything nice to say about him to the NYT.

Here's how the publication describes her account in Rememberings of meeting Prince:

Later, when "Nothing Compares 2 U" made her a star, O'Connor said the song's writer, Prince, terrorized her. She had pledged to reveal the details "when I'm an old lady and I write my book," and now she has: She writes that Prince summoned her to his macabre Hollywood mansion, chastised her for swearing in interviews, harangued his butler to serve her soup though she repeatedly refused it, and sweetly suggested a pillow fight, only to thump her with something hard he'd slipped into his pillowcase. When she escaped on foot in the middle of the night, she writes, he stalked her with his car, leapt out and chased her around the highway.

Speaking directly to NYT about Prince, O'Connor then said the following: "You've got to be crazy to be a musician, but there's a difference between being crazy and being a violent abuser of women."

She then also added of "Nothing Compares 2 U" that "As far as I'm concerned, it's my song."

But considering this is O'Connor we're talking about here, her comments shouldn't be overly shocking. After all, this is a person who ripped up a photo of the Pope on Saturday Night Live.

You can read the complete NYT feature over here, and if you want to read more about how much she hates Prince, you can check out all of Rememberings when it's released on June 1 via Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media.

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