Actress/singer Apollonia said Prince didn’t want the public to see her dating David Lee Roth while his film Purple Rain was making its run in theaters.
In a recent interview with Sunset Sound Recorders, Apollonia said she had been dating Roth at the time the film Purple Rain (starring Prince and Apollonia) was released in July of 1984. Prince was not keen on the brand new star he “discovered” being seen with anybody else but him. He especially didn’t want her seen with someone as high profile as the famous front man of Van Halen.
“When I was in Minneapolis filming, Dave had sent flowers to the Holiday Inn,” said Apollonia. “One day I went down to the production office at the Holiday Inn and there were flowers and there was a card and I was like, ‘[gasps]’. [Prince] didn’t let me get the flowers. He didn’t want me to be seen with anybody else. He wanted to be the one to discovered me. Prince was the one that said, ‘Don’t go out with someone famous in public until the movie settles.’ And I was like, ‘Okaaay.'”
Although Apolllonia wasn’t happy with Prince’s request she acquiesced and, besides, she knew Roth was not going to be a one woman kind of guy.
“Dave was on the road. He was entertaining,” said Apollonia. “He had his paternity suit [laughs], remember his paternity insurance? So I knew that when Dave was out he belonged to the world.”
After the Purple Rain movie had its run Apollonia said her relationship continued with Roth.
“We would see eachother after the movie,” she said. “I’d go to his shows. We’d go and hang out. There was one award show once, I don’t know it was American Music [Awards] or one of those and at the end we went home, I went home with him. It was either his limo or mine and I jumped into his.”
Watch the entire segment below, which also includes Apollonia stating that Prince only began doing splits in concert after seeing Roth do the same.