Salma Hayek’s Touching Memory of the Late Superstar, Prince
Many people aren’t aware that Salma Hayek and superstar musical artist Prince were good friends. When he passed away in 2016, Hayek was devastated at his death. She had directed him many years before in a music video and was understandably emotional at his sudden death.
Here’s what we know about Hayek and Prince’s friendship, as well as her favorite memory of the superstar.
Her favorite memory with Prince
Hayek spoke with W Magazine just days after Prince’s passing. When asked if she had a Prince playlist going to comfort herself, she replied that she simply couldn’t even hear his voice at that time. Her pain was still just too raw.
As she explained to the outlet, her favorite memory with the singer was working with him on the video for Te Amo Corazon and elaborated on the special time she spent with him, that she will never forget.
“It was very special. He was so, so supportive of me. He was always telling me that I should go back to directing, because I had done one little thing for television. And then one day, he said, ‘Okay, today’s the day. You have to do this song for me.’”
“And I said, ‘Oh god, I don’t know. A music video! I don’t watch them, I cannot do this.’ It’s not my thing, you know? And he’s known for being a control freak.”
“So I said, ‘If I’m going to do this, you have to listen to what I say. What if we’re fighting …’ And he said, ‘No, we’re going to choose the thing and do the thing.’ So I said, ‘Okay, let’s go have fun.’”
“The girl that’s in the video is one of my best friends; my first A.D. was a friend of ours; the makeup artist was another friend. It was a bunch of friends who went to Morocco. There was no fight, it was very easy, he was really relaxed. He didn’t even realize it was work. A lovely, lovely memory.”
Prince’s death
Prince passed away on April 21, 2016 after an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl, which he had been taking for hip pain. With no will, his sister and half-siblings were named his heirs. His death was an incredible shock, especially considering he had just performed two concerts in Atlanta the week before that the media and fans were still buzzing about.
“He was young and vulnerable,” his first manager John Hussey told Variety shortly after Prince’s death, “and I could get to see who he was and that person was highly creative and highly intelligent and he had a work ethic that went beyond anything else. He was confident of his own talent. And he knew what he was capable of.”
What happened to Paisley Park, Prince’s estate?
Prince’s passing forced his family to make a decision regarding his estate, Paisley Park. They decided to allow the same holding company that took care of Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate after his death to manage Prince’s home, Paisley Park.
Paisley Park was much too big for one person or family to manage. The family decided that Prince’s castle would become a museum for the public. It opened on October 28, 2016, just six months after Prince’s death.
Prince’s tour manager throughout the 1980s, Alan Leeds, revealed to The New Yorker in 2018 that Prince’s need to be in control, as Hayek pointed out, is what made him want to have a home as sprawling as Paisley Park. There, he could create, make music, practice as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted.
“He didn’t see music as work,” Leeds told me. “It’s just what he did. If you called it work, you were a cynic.”
Read more: What Is Salma Hayek’s Net Worth and What Is Her Background?
