In a collection of stories from Prince’s closest friends, colleagues, protégés, teachers, and neighbors that GQ published Thursday, a man named Corey Tollefson, who’s identified as a “Minneapolis-based entrepreneur and fan” who “attended events at Paisley Park for over 20 years,” recounts the time that Prince’s home enjoyed a brief visit from the actress long before her fame preceded her.
“So I’m outside of Paisley Park—this was in 95—and all of a sudden this girl, like, is pushing up to go into Paisley,” Tollefson begins. He said something to the effect of “Chick, there’s a line here. Like, what are you doing?” Jolie skipped to the front of it and was “begging, ‘Please let me come in.’” Bouncers told her the show was sold out. Tollefson continues:
And she’s like, “No, no, I just wanna go in and see it and I’ll come out.” And she told them her name and she went in and she came out 15 minutes later looking like she’d just won the lottery. Like, oh my God. She goes, “This is Paisley Park, this is like Willy Wonka.”
The anecdote is one of many (many) treasures offered up in the piece. Besides this nugget, there are some sick burns to remember, like when Prince broke up with Carmen Electra with a song called “I Hate U” and a plane ticket back to California. Or when he told Morris Hayes, his keyboardist, “Oprah is on” to signal that he’s done with Hayes, and he could go watch Oprah. Or even when he scolded Eddie Murphy for trying to ruin their pick-up basketball game with his solo album. After physically removing the tape from the boom box, he reportedly asked the comedian, “Let me ask you a question: Do you see me stop my show to do comedy?” No word on if Eddie Murphy ever recovered.
