Mayte Garcia was just 16 when she met the year-old music genius. They married six years later. For the first time she talks about life with Prince inside Paisley Park โ and how the death of their baby drove them apart.
It was Christmas and Prince was lonely. After a decade of restlessly creative music, epic films and staggering live shows, His Purple Highness was one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. He had recently signed what was thought to be the most lucrative record contract in history.
He had friends, devoted fans and a conveyor belt of women throwing themselves at him, drawn to the bacchanalian reputation of the man behind some of the most filthy songs ever written. Mayte Garcia had been 16 when she first laid eyes on Prince.
They pulled up in the limo and I was laughing hysterically. The rock star had dressed as he always did for low-key occasions: fabulously.
Prince was probably sporting a lace shirt for the house call. And she remembers clearly how his high heels echoed on the tiled floor where she had danced to his Eighties hits as a little girl.
