The minute that news reports confirmed that Prince had died, you knew there was going to be a clamoring. Clamoring to the rights to his music, clamoring to determine what to do with his home, clamoring to know more about the artist who we all found so alluringly mysterious.
There have already been articles here and there with people, known and unknown, sharing memories of the artist. But few, if any of the authors of these narratives can claim to know Prince as well as his ex-wife Mayte Garcia. Not only was Garcia, Prince’s wife, she was the mother of his only child.
In an interview with People, Garcia shared the heartbreaking and traumatic story of losing their son Amiir, which is Arabic for Prince, just six days after he was born on October 16, 1996.
Mayte tells the story with excerpts from her new memoir, The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince.
Maybe, now 43, told People, “I don’t think he ever got over it. I don’t know how anybody can get over it. I know I haven’t.”
Garcia discovered she was pregnant when she was 22-years-old. She and Prince were elated about raising a family in Paisley Park. The pregnancy was going smoothly until she started bleeding one day. A doctor recommended amniocentesis to test for genetic abnormalities. But the doctor also warned the couple that the procedure carried a risk of miscarriage.
The doctor also told them, “Sometimes the body is trying to release the fetus for a reason.” But Prince learned of the risk of miscarriage, he was vehemently against it. “My husband said, ‘No, we’re not doing that.”
Once they got home, the two prayed for their child.
“Please, bless this child,” Prince prayed on his knees. “We know you won’t allow this child to be harmed.”
When they went back to the doctor, further exams revealed more complications. An obstetrician told them the ultrasound measurements were off and it was possible that they were seeing a form of dwarfism.
Garcia writes, “My husband and I looked at each other and shrugged. ‘And?’ he said. ‘I’m totally fine with that.’ I laughed. Of all the possible outcomes that had been offered to us, this was the first one that didn’t terrify me.”
Still, the doctors warned of other abnormalities that could be life threatening. Again, they advised the couple get an amniocentesis. Prince continued to refuse.
On October 16, 1996, Mayte delivered the couple’s son via c-section. At first, she and her husband were ecstatic. “I don’t know how to describe the look on my husband’s face. Pure joy. And then they held the baby up to those harsh lights. The elation on my husband’s face turned to pure terror.”
“Pfeiffer syndrome type is a genetic disorder that causes skeletal and systemic abnormalities. The premature fusing of the bones in the skull, sometimes resulting in ‘cloverleaf skull,’ in which the eyes are outside the sockets. The fusion of bones in the hands and feet causing a webbed or paw like appearance…I learned all of this later.”
While the O.R. nurses started moving frantically to save Amiir’s life, Mayte heard Prince ask, “Why is he not crying?”
“They brought the baby over to us. He was curled on his side, gasping shallow little gulps of air. Because there were no lids to blink, his eyes looked startled and dry. I caught hold of his tiny hand, saying over and over, ‘Mama loves you, Mama’s here.”
In the following days, Amiir underwent several procedures, including a tracheotomy. “After six days he was struggling to breathe. And I said to the doctor, ‘He’s not leaving here, is he?’”
He died shortly after.
Mayte said writing her memoirs has been difficult. “I’ve been making notes of my life but when it finally came time to write it, it took me back and I cried many tears. But I also think that it’s liberating.
Mayte said that she wanted her book to be the first to come out since Prince’s death last April.
“I knew there was going to be a lot of stuff coming out about him, negative and positive. I wanted mine to come from love.”
You can see pictures from Mayte’s interview with People and a couple of her pregnant, here.
Veronica Wells is the culture editor at MadameNoire.com. She is also the author of “Bettah Days.” You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter @VDubShrug.
The post Mayte Opens Up About The Son She And Prince Lost In New Memoir appeared first on MadameNoire.