Although it’s unclear exactly when Prince and Tyka’s relationship turned sour, Tyka revealed to City Pages in 2008 that she things weren’t going so well in her early teenage years. She began smoking weed at the young age of 13, as their parents had been separated since she was 8 and Prince repeatedly switched homes between their mother’s and father’s. Over the next several years, Tyka struggled with an addiction to crack cocaine, and after having children, she prostituted herself to support her family.
Unfortunately, Tyka’s personal troubles only hurt their relationship more. Tyka even told City Pages that Prince just thought she was “crazy.” And as Prince’s music career began to take off, it seemed he wanted nothing to do with his sister. While he did help her get into a rehab program that pushed her to get sober in the early 2000s, she supposedly sold her story about their troubled relationship to the National Enquirer in 2003 when he would no longer financially support her.
“I love my brother. But I’m not a yo-yo,” she told the publication. “He can’t just keep spinning me in and out of his life.”
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Once she was sober, though, things seemed to get a little better for the siblings. Prince reportedly assisted Tyka in getting her own musical career back on track in 2008, when she released her album A Brand New Me. Tyka wasn’t nearly as vocal about her relationship with her brother in the eight years after that until Prince died on April 21.
Even with their troubles, Tyka was one of the first people to arrive to his Paisley Park estate in Chanhassen, Minn., upon the news of his death. She even dyed her hair purple as a tribute to her brother! Tyka comforted fans who came out to remember Prince, telling them “I know he loved you too.”
Because Prince didn’t draft a will before he passed away, Tyka is the most likely candidate to inherit his reported $300 million estate as well as his entire musical library and royalties. The two have five living half-siblings too, though, who may also receive some of the inheritance. The fate of his estate is still being determined.
HollywoodLifers, do you think Tyka should be the one to inherit Prince’s money?