Chaka Khan has spoken out to give a rare update on where her love life stands in an August 20 interview with The Observer.
When asked about the current status of her love life, the “I’m Every Woman” songstress indicated that she’s ruling out romance for the time being. “I’m not looking for that. I’m partnered out,” she explained right after declaring, “I don’t want to discuss that, because if I talk too much about what I would like to have, somebody will try to arrange it for me. So I’m just going to mosey along and let life do what it do. One of them is not necessarily a partner.”
Chaka Khan Addresses Whether She Ever Slept With Prince
The Queen of Funk, now 73, kicked off the interview by joking, “Oh God, you’re not going to ask me if I’ve slept with Prince, are you?” Although she didn’t directly answer, she hinted at the negative, saying “it’s sad” the assumptions people make before declaring, “I’m not going to lie to you and add to your fantasy. This ain’t Disneyland. I’m living for real.”
The interviewer points out he mentioned Prince, who died in 2016 at the age of 57, because of their famous connection over the song “I Feel For You.” Prince originally wrote the song for Patrice Rushen, who turned it down along with another Prince-written hit, “I Wanna Be Your Lover.”
The “Purple Rain” singer ended up putting the song on self-titled album in 1979, Khan’s 1984 version surpassed its success, becoming the most commercially profitable version of the track.
“He was a really deep and beautiful thinker,” Chaka reflected in the interview. “Prince just grabbed ideas out of thin air and left you wondering, ‘Where did you get that?’ “
Chaka Khan Bravely Opens Up About the Dark Side of Rehab
Khan has been open about her past struggles with drugs, once crediting Prince for helping her kick the addiction. To the Observer, she courageously opened up about some of her experiences in rehabs, and how they were at times the opposite of helpful.
She recalled of her three rehab trips, ““It’s a business” before expressing she feels the business is full of “bandits and crooks.” She shared that she’s been in places charging $1,000 a day, only for them to keep her messed up under the influence of pills under the pretense of the medications making you “better.”
One of those stints was just 3 months after Prince’s death. The LA Times reported they were told by Khan’s rep in July 2016, “Chaka has struggled with a dependence on prescription pain medications and has voluntarily entered the program to get healthy and stay that way. As part of the ongoing outpatient treatment the doctors have urged her to resume recording mid-July and commence all performances beginning August 1st and onward” after sharing that she was postponing all her July tour dates to enter addiction rehab.”
Despite her ups and downs, the 11-time Grammy winner (10 excluding her non-competitive Lifetime Achievement Award) doesn’t have any regrets about her journey. She says she’d tell her past self, “Do what you did. Everything was a necessary evil or a necessary good. I’m proud of my scars.”
Who Was Chaka Khan Married To?
Khan got married for the first time in 1970, at just 17 years old, to Hassan Khan, a Chicago area musician. The brief marriage ended a year later.
Six years later she married again, this time to Richard Holland. They divorced in 1979.
