annastesia1 said:

I think Prince should've taken more care of Prince to be quite honest. As much as I love him, it's easier to point the blame rather than accept the fact that Prince was a grown man who made his own decisions, sadly leading to his untimely demise.

It is a little bit of both in my opinion. Everyone needs support and understanding. But people don't always know how to give it, especially if one is not forthcoming about his/her needs. I have actually stated that people letting him self-medicate to deal with chronic pain may have had nothing but love for him. My uncle is dealing with chronic basically-uncurable pain that he will live with [to some degree or another] for the rest of his life and he won't take drugs (and no doctor is going to give him a lifetime supply of drugs to deal with it anyhow). Now, the dude can't even sleep. What kind of quality of life is that? People have been telling Prince to slow down since the 80's. In a way, he has been killing himself for the last 30 years. But everytime my uncle for example surfed or rode in motocross he was contributing to chronic pain he was going to have later in life. I doubt he would have it any other way.

I am more sad for P in that he died alone and was unable to give himself down-time. The dude needed a little more balance in his life. If my uncle for example died tomorrow (God-Forbid), he would at least have grandchildren and a wife with him.

\

smoothcriminal12 said:

I think Prince should've taken more care of Prince to be quite honest. As much as I love him, it's easier to point the blame rather than accept the fact that Prince was a grown man who made his own decisions, sadly leading to his untimely demise.

[Edited 1/7/17 17:31pm]

[Edited 1/7/17 17:33pm]

Yes, I agree. I don't think Prince was stoic or lacking in affection necessarily. But he gave pieces of himself to people and keep recesses of himself hidden. He bonded with people but never completely let up his guard. He compartmentalized his life. It was a controlled and rather cautious life in many ways despite his wild sense of humor and fun. Its quite sad really and more of a reason for people to listen to his music (and in all periods of his life)..his music might be cryptic but it comes from his imagination and his heart. It reflects what he really was, what he wanted to be, and what he thought he was. He and Alan Leeds are both wrong that Prince was a funnel or vessel for God's music. That's a discredit to Prince. it came from him--from his effort, his internal life, his heart, his reflection of the world, his sense of humor, his wild internal spirit. It was how he connected to the world and even at many times how he connected to the people around him. It freed him in spirit but enclosed him in life.

That svengali image that people have of Prince hopefully will change to one of a man who felt most comfortable with himself and others when music was involved (thus the reason he showed affection to female musicians, proteges, love interests etc through supporting their careers..

Music--his crutch, his downfall and his salvation all at the same time. However, the man seemed to lack balance in life. Music can't be everything but I think people should respect his sacrifice by giving his music from all periods the benefit of the doubt.

Susan Rogers stated that if you want to get to know Prince, its all in his music. I think she is probably right.

sonshine said:

Yep. But he was waaaay too secretive to be properly looked after. I've come to accept that. He put up walls. He purposely kept others from knowing the full truth about himself. I was very angry initially that he had been left alone that night, but now my frustration and disappointment is more about his chaotic childhood and broken home issues that left him emotionally bruised/broken. Whatever happened in those formative years shaped the adult. I wish he had acknowledged any hang ups he had and sought professional help to deal with them and/or the limitations they presented. Mostly I wish he had never experienced neglect, abandonment, fear, or any of the other things children do at the hands of the adults who are supposed to nurture and protect them.

[Edited 1/7/17 20:51pm]

[Edited 1/7/17 20:53pm]

smoothcriminal12 said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

I think Prince should've taken more care of Prince to be quite honest. As much as I love him, it's easier to point the blame rather than accept the fact that Prince was a grown man who made his own decisions, sadly leading to his untimely demise.

True that.

You can't help somebody if they aren't willing to help themselves.

purplerabbithole said:

Yes, I agree. I don't think Prince was stoic or lacking in affection necessarily. But he gave pieces of himself to people and keep recesses of himself hidden. He bonded with people but never completely let up his guard. He compartmentalized his life. It was a controlled and rather cautious life in many ways despite his wild sense of humor and fun. Its quite sad really and more of a reason for people to listen to his music (and in all periods of his life)..his music might be cryptic but it comes from his imagination and his heart. It reflects what he really was, what he wanted to be, and what he thought he was. He and Alan Leeds are both wrong that Prince was a funnel or vessel for God's music. That's a discredit to Prince. it came from him--from his effort, his internal life, his heart, his reflection of the world, his sense of humor, his wild internal spirit. It was how he connected to the world and even at many times how he connected to the people around him. It freed him in spirit but enclosed him in life.

That svengali image that people have of Prince hopefully will change to one of a man who felt most comfortable with himself and others when music was involved (thus the reason he showed affection to female musicians, proteges, love interests etc through supporting their careers..

Music--his crutch, his downfall and his salvation all at the same time. However, the man seemed to lack balance in life. Music can't be everything but I think people should respect his sacrifice by giving his music from all periods the benefit of the doubt.

Susan Rogers stated that if you want to get to know Prince, its all in his music. I think she is probably right.

[Edited 1/7/17 20:51pm]

[Edited 1/7/17 20:53pm]

Beautifully expressed, and I couldn't agree more...Everything is in his lyrics, if people care to read them carefully enough, and be open to their contents...

RJOrion said:

thats not fair to say that...thats like saying his parents should have taken better care of him

Well, they probably should have, instead of kicking him out and around and him having to live with another family.

rogifan said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

I think Prince should've taken more care of Prince to be quite honest. As much as I love him, it's easier to point the blame rather than accept the fact that Prince was a grown man who made his own decisions, sadly leading to his untimely demise.

Honestly I would love to know where this 'people around him didn't care enough' idea came from. What evidence do we have? Just because he happened to be alone when he died? The Carver County Sheriff said it was not uncommon for Prince to be alone at Paisley Park. IMO People needs to stop blaming others. Like you say he was a grown man who made his own decisions. It's not Kirk J. or anyone else's fault he's no longer here.

Playing the blame game is not going to bring him back.

.... because you're totally going to force a grown ass man to do something he doesn't want to do.

Look, I've wrestled dogs who weigh more than Prince at his healthiest, and have the scars to prove it. Prince is much smarter than a dog, so I highly doubt I could have dragged his 112 lb ass anywhere he didn't want to go, despite outweighing him significantly.

What exactly did you want his people to do?

Stop blaming them already, it's stupid.

[Edited 1/9/17 7:31am]

sonshine said:

Dibblekins said:

PennyPurple said:

Although he's gone, we must remember that Prince lived a charmed life. He traveled the entire world and his vast experiences taught him well and grew him (intellectually and spiritually) into the man we know and love. We must remember that in addition to being a musician, he was a highly successful business professional. Therefore, no one should even think of Prince as this tossed away man-child. As a teenager, he was well groomed, and well dressed which meant he was cared for and nurtured, and I'm sure he loved his family deeply. Let's all respect the MAN that he grew to become and not have a pity party about how he grew up or his childhood experiences.

[Edited 1/13/17 0:53am]

anangellooksdown said:

It's true that someone taught him well in childhood. But that doesn't mean he wasn't also affected. I agree with your other points. Very important.

It's true he was met with challenges and disappointment in his youth that no child should ever have to go thru.

annastesia1 said:

I know this has been said before. I wish he would have had good people advising him. When someone is a big star people don't want to say anything.

I tend to agree.

Especially after the plane landing incident, enough people knew about that , you would think people would be hanging around and keeping an eye on him even if he didnt want them to.

I appologise if what I am about to ask has already been covered, but whats the story with Prince's love life around that time? did he have a girlfriend or someone he was seeing.

And if not how come, I mean like was he recently out of a relationship ? and who was his last significant relationship with.

I have been a Prince fan since 1983 and got all his released music and most of the time I followed him a lot online and read several biographys but to be honest the last few years before he passed even though I was still up on the new music I had kinda dropped off on what was going on with him, like I didnt even know about the plane landing incident untill when he passed I got all that news at once.

I was on this forum few years back but after getting married and having kids didnt keep up with it , lost my old pw, and recently rejoined since his passing. I still cant believe it , for long time I just reacted as if it was not really true like maybe he'd faked it to get outta the spotlight or something or that somehow he hadnt really gone anywhere like it was not real. The day it happened and I found out I was at work and could barely make it through the day.

Anyway I know probably easier said than done, but just wish somehow there was people with him at Paisly Park that night, although we dont really know what happened yet, I tend to think this may not have happened if he wasnt alone that night and was able to get into new treatment the next day, it sounds like there was a plan for him to start new treatment but seems like everything was too late.

PennyPurple said:

RJOrion said:

thats not fair to say that...thats like saying his parents should have taken better care of him

Well, they probably should have, instead of kicking him out and around and him having to live with another family.

It is difficult to know how many of the stories about his upbringing are entirely true but if they are it sounds like his parents (and perhaps his older siblings) should have provided him with more stability and support so that he wasn't as one writer (maybe Tourre) said a "functional orphan."

lastdecember said:

Please stop making it sound like he was a man that had friends over all the time or had parties and hung out. He did not and there is no evidence he did. Prince lived and died alone, the only time he had people with him was at shows or in the studio. We are never gonna know what happened to Prince, but to think he had friends constantly around him and they should have stopped him or forced him to get help again is nuts. But to also use that old line he is a grown man he should know better is bullshit. PAIN is something that makes even the smartes wisest ones make bad choices. We are never gonna know when this started, if he had pain or a surgery and then took something and just got hooked. Remember what he was taking was stronger than heroin which is already the most addictive drug, and this is a legal pain killer given to those going through cancer. Prince was a human being and human beings make decisions, remember that Prince played a concert and then hours later almost OD'd, he was trying to solve this problem in private alone like he did everything else, but PAIN won.

I agree with everything you just said!

sonshine said:

Yep. But he was waaaay too secretive to be properly looked after. I've come to accept that. He put up walls. He purposely kept others from knowing the full truth about himself. I was very angry initially that he had been left alone that night, but now my frustration and disappointment is more about his chaotic childhood and broken home issues that left him emotionally bruised/broken. Whatever happened in those formative years shaped the adult. I wish he had acknowledged any hang ups he had and sought professional help to deal with them and/or the limitations they presented. Mostly I wish he had never experienced neglect, abandonment, fear, or any of the other things children do at the hands of the adults who are supposed to nurture and protect them.

to the whole comment, but especially the sentence I bolded.

Strawberrylova123 said:

His people called an addiction specialist to get him help so they did care.

lastdecember said: