Story About Prince Renting A House in LA

Forums:

Carlos Boozer was in Utah this weekend, getting honored for his time with the Jazz. Today's SL Tribune had this story he related the other night to a reporter. 

 

And finally … Prince renting (and taking liberties with) his house

The story has been out for years about the time the late pop superstar took over the hoopster’s pad out in California and lent his own eccentric vibe to the place. But hearing Boozer re-tell it and sprinkle in some hilarious details was the highlight of the evening:

“So once upon a time, I bought a house in Bel-Air. It was actually right before I came to the Jazz for training camp. I bought a crib out there, it was crazy — like 18,000 square feet, it was a lot. We just got it decorated, we’d probably only spent like three or four days in the house — at the time it was me and my [now]-ex-wife CeCe, it was just me and her, we didn’t have no kids yet.

“I bought the crib, I moved here to Utah, came here for the season, my realtor in L.A., Roxanne, kept hitting me up saying, ‘Someone wants to rent your house.’ And I was like, ‘No. I ain’t even spent any time in my house.’ And then she told me, ‘Well, he’s willing to pay 95 grand a month.’ And I was like, ‘Oh.’ Since I’m gonna be in Utah for the next eight, nine months …

“So I flew out to L.A., met him there. He came up in a limo, got out of the car — I didn’t know who it was until he got out of the car. I’m looking at Roxanne, saying, ‘That’s Prince, right?’ She says, ‘Yeah!’ It ends up being Prince. We walk around the house for maybe an hour, I showed him some of the intricacies of the house. There was a tanning deck but also a tennis court that I turned into a basketball court. And he was a huge basketball fan — grew up in Minnesota, was a big Kevin Garnett fan, so we talked about KG. And then he rented the crib.

“That happened to be the year I tore my hamstring like four or five times. So there’s a really good physical therapist in L.A. She’s phenomenal, so I went out to see her. And I kept calling Prince: ‘I’m gonna stop by the house, if you need anything, let me know.’ But he wasn’t returning my call. I pulled to the house — I had these two golden lions on the gate, and that wasn’t there. I was like, ‘Is this the right address?’ I drive back down the street, come back up the street. It was a symbol I had never seen before. I’m like, ‘What the f--- is this? Whose house is this?’ I put my code into the gate and it opened up.

“I drove in and I go upstairs. And he had ripped out every single thing in my house — 18,000 square feet — and he put it into a storage facility. And everything was purple and black everywhere. There was purple and black carpet, purple and black beds. I had a weight room — he turned the weight room into a nightclub with a disco ball and DJ booth … which I thought was pretty cool! He had a massage parlor in one room. He transformed the entire house to make it like his. And I’m not used to this — I’ve never rented a house out to anybody before. I’m 22, 23 — I’m kinda beside myself.

“So I’m calling and calling — at least the number I thought was his. I’m like, ‘Did he change his number?’ It was like an ex-girlfriend thing going on! I finally get ahold of him, and he’s in Asia doing a tour for his album. And he finally hits me back, and he’s like,’Booz, don’t worry. I got you.’ He wired me 500 grand to ease my mind. He’s like, ‘When I move out, it’ll be like I was never there.’

“Long story short: he rents my crib out for a year, for 95 grand a month, puts 18,000 square feet of a house into storage and redecorated the entire house — down to the forks. Then wires me half a mil to just ease my mind. And then when I got there at the end of his lease, it was like he was never there. That’s how much money Prince had! Unbelievable. True story, though.”

Great story   Thanks!