Prince revealed to Rolling Stone in 2014 that he had invited Chris Brown to his Paisley Park home in an effort to mentor him.
When a Rolling Stone journalist mentioned to the late singer that many felt that Brown's treatment of Rihanna (he violently assaulted her in 2009) was “unforgivable” Prince countered, “Unforgivable? Goodness. That's when we go check the master, Christ... Have you ever instantly forgiven somebody? It's the best feeling in the world, and it totally dismantles that person's whole stance".
In the same interview Prince spoke briefly about Michael Jackson’s death, stating, “He is just one of many who have gone through that door - Amy Winehouse and folks. We're all connected, right, we're all brothers and sisters, and the minute we lock that in, we wouldn't let anybody in our family fall".
He continued on the subject of Brown’s 2009 assault on then-girlfriend Rihanna, “That’s why I called Chris Brown. All of us need to be able to reach out and just fix stuff. There’s nothing that’s unforgivable”. Certainly, the extent of the late-singer’s tolerance, even for the likes of Chris Brown, was remarkable.
The story initially failed to make the magazine, but in the wake of the iconic artist’s death it’s being used for the latest cover story. In the same remarkable interview Prince also declared he was celibate, and he'd gone for long periods of time without any food: "The hunger turns into something else".
