The tragedy behind Prince's children - and how he did not acknowledge son's death

The music superstar - who has died at the age of 57 - suffered a number of tragic losses in his life

Prince and Mayte Garcia-Nelson

He led a colourful life as one of the world's biggest music stars - but behind Prince's success was a number of tragic losses.
The Purple Rain singer - who was found dead today aged 57 - tragically lost two children during his marriage to Mayte Garcia .
The pair's relationship began in 1996 but ended just four years later, with Mayte revealing how the deaths ripped their marriage apart.




Mayte fell pregnant shortly after their wedding on Valentine’s Day, 1996, in Prince’s home town of Minneapolis.
But their son Boy Gregory died just a week after birth due to Pfeiffer syndrome, a rare defect of the skull.
That loss, followed by a miscarriage not long afterwards, tore the grieving couple apart.
She told the Mirror: "To lose two babies is really scary... it really caught on me emotionally, physically, everything. It took me at least 15 years to get over it and still, to this day, I miss my son.

 

Prince performs onstage at The Hollywood Palladium on March 8, 2014 in Los Angeles, California

 

Mayte Garcia pictured in 2014

"I believe a child dying between a couple either makes you stronger or it doesn’t. For me, it was very, very hard to move forward and for us as a couple I think it probably broke us.”
Bizarrely, within days of losing their son the couple went on the Oprah Winfrey show and pretended he was still alive, giving her a tour of his playroom.

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When the chat show host asked about the boy, the Purple Rain singer replied: "We have a long way to go; there will be many more children..."
Mayte later explained how they were simply unable to process the death.
Leave your tributes to Prince in the comments section below "We had to show people that we were strong, that we had faith, and that we would try again," she said.
"But I didn't really want to speak to anybody. I was physically distraught. When you miscarry your body is freaking out, like ‘Why can’t I feed the baby?’ so those were the things I went through. Every day was a struggle even to breathe."

Prince in 1986

Prince's body was found at his Paisley Park recording studios today.
The news comes days after the singer was released from hospital after a bout of flu.
After his sold-out performance in Atlanta on Thursday, April 14 his private jet made an unscheduled landing at Quad City International Airport in Illinois and he was taken to hospital.
But Prince was released after three hours and just four days later he was pictured at a dance party.