A new memoir by Mayte Garcia, ex-wife of the late singer Prince, reveals a beautiful but tragic story about their son who lived just a few days outside the womb.
Yahoo News reports their baby boy, Amiir, was born on Oct. 16, 1996 with a genetic disorder called Pfeiffer syndrome type 2, and lived for six days.
Despite Amiir’s genetic disorder and his short life, he was precious to his mother and father. In her new book, “The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince,” Garcia said their main concern was for their son’s life.
Here’s more from the report:
When Garcia, then 22, discovered she was pregnant, she and Prince were overjoyed at the thought of raising a family at their home in Paisley Park. The pregnancy went smoothly until she began bleeding one day and a doctor recommended an amniocentesis to test for genetic abnormalities. The procedure, the doctor warned, carried a risk of miscarriage.
Yet as the doctor told them: “Sometimes the body is trying to release the fetus for a reason.” But Prince, Garcia writes, was against it: “My husband said, ‘No, we’re not doing that.’”
Once home, the couple prayed for his health.
“Please, bless this child,” said Prince as he prayed on his knees. “We know you won’t allow this child to be harmed.”
Further appointments revealed more causes for concern. Garcia said an ultrasound showed that Amiir was smaller than he should be, and one doctor suggested he might have a form of dwarfism.
“My husband and I looked at each other and shrugged,” Garcia wrote. “‘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.”
She said when Amiir was born, she saw “pure joy” on her husband’s face. But the joy turned to fear and pain upon seeing Amiir. Garcia said he had severe physical abnormalities. Their little boy died six days later.
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Garcia said neither she nor Prince ever really got over Amiir’s death.
“I don’t know how anybody can get over it. I know I haven’t,” she told People.
Lindsley Allen, a dancer who worked with Prince, previously told People that the baby boy’s death was devastating to the couple.
“It was really sad. I think he was really looking forward to being a father,” Allen said. “It was very difficult for them and I don’t think they really recovered from that. I felt a very paternal feeling from him but yet that was something that he never really had known.”
“I remember they had built a swing set out in the back and they had a playroom built,” she continued.
Garcia later miscarried their second child. She said the tragic losses of their two children likely was what drove them apart.
“I believe a child dying between a couple either makes you stronger or it doesn’t,” she said not long after Prince’s death. “For me, it was very, very hard to move forward and for us as a couple I think it probably broke us.”
The celebrity couple divorced in 2000.
