Former NBA player has a fantastic story about renting his house to Prince and getting a $1 million check to fix Prince's renovations
Music legend Prince died at the age of 57 on Thursday.
The world has been grieving the passing of a rock legend, a fantastic guitarist, and one of the most unique personalities pop culture has ever seen.
Former NBA player Carlos Boozer befriended Prince during his career and and got an up-close look at Prince's unique personality in a ridiculous way.
As detailed in a story by ESPN's Nick Friedell in 2011, Boozer once rented his Beverly Hills home to Prince. Former Chicago Bull Jay Williams told the story to "The Waddle & Silvy Show," explaining how Prince turned Boozer's house upside down.
"Booz told me how he had this massive house ... blue fountain waves kind of came down, streaming water that led to the front door and all this great stuff. And I remember him calling me, 'Dude, you will never guess, I rode past my house like three times, I had no idea it was my house.'
"Supposedly, Prince changed the front gate to the Prince sign, he changed the master bedroom to a hair salon, he changed the streaming blue waters that led to the front door to purple water, he knocked out walls, he changed the molding on top of the ceiling. Booz was livid. So pissed off, so angry ... [Prince] put his Purple Rain stamp on it ... Booz was like, 'I was getting ready to go over there and beat this little man down.' And dude was just like 'Here, Boozer, here is a little check for about a million, it'll take care of everything, get it back the way you want it.' And Booz was like, 'This little man is cool as hell.'"
Boozer told Friedell that Prince knew "how to live."
"Good dude, good tenant. [He] took care of the house his way. And then fixed it back the way I needed it to be. Very good dude. ... He knows how to live. He lives a good life. I'll put it that way. ... He put it back the way it was before he moved out. He did some very specific things that were built for him and his lifestyle, which is very different from mine. Needless to say, I sold the house, made a great profit and moved to Miami."
Though Boozer said he wasn't a huge fan of Prince's music, he saw him a few times thereafter and said he enjoyed his company.
Nobody would be thrilled with having a tenant completely renovate their house, but Boozer's story captures Prince's one-of-a-kind spirit, and it helps, of course, that he paid for it.