Chaka Khan would rather go through the fire than to be asked this one question about Prince again.

The music legend, 73, shocked Observer reporter, Patrick Smith, at the start of a new interview by throwing a shocking question at him to kick things off.

“Oh, God, you’re not going to ask me if I’ve slept with Prince, are you?” she questioned Smith with a sarcastic laugh in the interview published Aug. 20.

Khan and Prince shared a decades-long friendship and collaborated on an album, a major joint tour and multiple live performances before his death in 2016.

Smith asked Khan if she’s often asked in her other interviews about whether the two were strictly just friends.

“Hell yeah I do! It’s sad that they just assume I’m either a whore or a singer. Make up your mind! What do you want me to be?” the singer replied. “I’m not going to lie to you and add to your fantasy. This ain’t Disneyland. I’m living for real.”

Khan then added, “If I’d slept with all the guys I’ve done tours with, I don’t know what I’d be right now. I’d probably be dead.”

Khan went on to tell the outlet that Prince, born Prince Rogers Nelson, helped her kick her drug addiction in 1999 after a few close calls that stemmed from her being prescribed fentanyl following a knee replacement that same year.

“He plucked me out of a place where I was trying to survive,” she explained. “My record company [was] in my ass, being the meanest people on the planet. I felt like I was being pimped. I cried a lot, because I was falling out of love with music. I was ready to throw in the towel, and then Prince came along.”

Khan said she checked into rehab with her sister after Prince pushed her to go. Prince, who reportedly suffered from severe, chronic body pain for years, namely in his hips and joints, later died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl in April 2016.

Elsewhere in the interview, Khan shared that after being married two times, she is not “necessarily” looking to find another partner. Khan was married to Hassan Khan from 1970 to 1971, and Richard Holland from 1976 to 1980.

“I’m not looking for that. I’m partnered out,” she added.

Read Khan’s full interview with the Observer here.

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