Inside Sinead O’Connor and Prince’s ‘violent’ relationship

Together they delivered music fans the heartbreak hit of the ages but Sinead O’Connor said her working relationship with Prince was brutal and violent.

O’Connor, who died at 56 this week, lifted the lid on her complicated relationship with the Purple Rain singer, who penned Nothing Compares 2 U before her rendition was named by Billboard as the number one single in the world in 1990.

O’Connor recounted how the pair would allegedly physically clash at his famous Paisley Park home in Minneapolis, resulting in painful pillow fights.

The Irish singer claimed the American, who died at the home in 2016, didn’t like her swearing and people covering his music.

She once told the Mirror: “He invited me to his house in Los Angeles and started to give out to me for swearing in interviews.”

“When I told him to go f… himself he got very upset and became quite threatening, physically. I ended up having to escape.”

“He can pack a punch. A few blows were exchanged. All I could do was spit. I spat on him quite a bit.”

In a separate account, she said he “chastised her for swearing in interviews”.

She claimed Prince “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.”

Later explaining why Prince would become so enraged with her, she wrote in her memoir: “Firstly, Prince didn’t like people covering his songs.”

“Secondly, he had all these female protégés and he was annoyed that I wasn’t one of them.”