PURPLE PROSE
Prince’s ex-wife pens memoir
Love, grief, loss and legacy are just a few of the reasons Mayte Garcia is stepping back into the purple light with a new memoir covering her 11 years with the late music icon Prince.
Garcia was just 16, a fan and already a professional belly dancer, when her mother slipped one of Prince’s entourage a videotape of her daughter dancing. Prince was 15 years older than she. At nearly 18, she became part of his working life. By 19, she was his lover.
They married when she was 22. She was pregnant two months later, but they lost their baby boy to a rare genetic disorder six days after birth. Their grief over the passing of their precious Amiir (Prince in Arabic) would contribute to their divorce in 2000, Garcia said while promoting her book The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince.
Garcia — the subject of Prince’s hit The Most Beautiful Girl in the World — hadn’t seen him for many years when he died on April 21, 2016. The 43-year-old regrets she didn’t get in touch earlier that year when she learned he wasn’t doing well.
Highlights of a conversation with Garcia:
THE BOOK
“I started writing this book years ago. I wanted to remember, just, my childhood,” Garcia said. “People would tell me, especially after my marriage to Prince, you need to write a book because you’ve had a crazy life.
“It was never like a tell-all or to talk bad about my relationship and my past. Actually it was done for love, and then when he passed, then I really felt the urgency to do it because I know a lot of people are going to come out with books and stories, but none like mine.”
LOSING AMIIR
The loss of their baby to a severe and disfiguring form of Pfeiffer syndrome was gut-wrenching. Their grief played out in different ways. Prince refused to acknowledge the death publicly, dragging her out of bed for a bizarre interview with Oprah Winfrey along with a tour of Paisley Park that included a nursery and playroom Prince had installed as a surprise.
“I can’t speak for him and his loss,” Garcia said. “He just got into the work. ... That’s what he does, through anger, through love. My journey was different. For me it was really hard on my body, on my soul, the loss, and for many years I kept it trapped, and to release it has been really healing. I feel like I’m honouring him and our son with this book.” The question of whether Prince had a will has slowed settlement of his estate for a year. None has been found. All Garcia knows is at one point he had one.
“I know for a fact there was a will when I was pregnant and married because I asked him. I remember thinking, ‘What’s going to happen? What do you want, because I don’t want to be stuck here having to deal with all of this. Please leave a guideline of what you want.’ ”
DRUG USE
Garcia says she never saw Prince take drugs. A medical examiner has ruled his death was due to an accidental opioid overdose.
What she does know is this: He was once rushed to the hospital to have his stomach pumped after passing out, saying he mixed wine and aspirin for a migraine. There were times he seemed “loopy,” and there was the issue of her Vicodin pills going missing after they lost the baby.
She thought he might have been taking the pain medication to prevent her from doing herself harm.
PRINCE’S DEATH AND THEIR DIVORCE
Garcia learned the news of his death from an unlikely source: Manuela Testolini, Prince’s second wife, whom he had also divorced. Testolini later apologized to Garcia after reaching out on social media. They have a friendship, of sorts, that endures.
As for forgiving Testolini, she said: “I just don’t like to have bad energy with people. It’s like a disease. I even said that with Prince, ‘I don’t want to have any kind of bad energy with you. We need to clear all this.’ I’ll always love him.”