April 10, 2017
No 'Tell-All,' but Prince's Ex Details Their Life in Memoir
Leanne Italie READ TIME: 1 MIN.
Love, grief, loss, 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. They were at one of his concerts, and Prince watched right away, summoning her backstage.
Letters and phone calls followed as a friendship blossomed, regardless of their 15 year age difference. At nearly 18, she became part of his working life; by 19, she was his lover (it's time, he told her, for birth control).
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, which means Prince in Arabic, would contribute to their divorce in 2000, Garcia said while promoting the recently released book "The Most Beautiful Girl."
Garcia - the subject of Prince's hit "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" - hadn't seen him for many years when he died April 21, 2016. The 43-year-old regrets that she didn't get in touch earlier that year when she learned through of old friends and band members that he wasn't doing well.
