Michael Jackson despised Prince

Michael Jackson hated Prince.

Secretly recorded tapes have revealed the ‘Billie Jean’ hitmaker, who died in 2009, was jealous and despised the ‘Purple Rain’ singer, who he says was one of the "rudest" people he had ever met and whom he believed would kill himself eventually.

In transcripts of the recording obtained by The Daily Mirror newspaper, the star refers to Prince – who shockingly passed away in May – as "nasty" and "mean" and adds: "I don’t like to be compared to Prince at all.

"I have proven myself since I was real little. It’s not fair. He feels like I’m his opponent. I hope he changes because boy, he’s gonna get hurt. He’s the type that might commit suicide or something.

"He was so rude, one of rudest people I have ever met. Prince is very competitive. He has been very mean and nasty to my family."

In one cruel rant, Michael can be heard recalling the time when Prince fell off the stage during a James Brown tribute concert in front of thousands of people after he leant against a paper mache lamppost which he mistook for a real one.

He said: "He made a fool of himself. He was a joke. People were running and screaming. I was so embarrassed. It was all on video.

But the so-called King of Pop also slammed his own family.

He dished his brother Randy was a "hardheaded" man whilst Jackie was "negative" and Jermaine "talented but lacking self-confidence".

According to the report, he also bemoaned that Janet was a tomboy and his other sister LaToya was "weird".