Amiir Nelson was the adored child of Prince and his ex-wife Mayte Garcia. The late Prince was a prolific singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist that has many hit songs such as the award-winning Purple rain. He was as much in the public eye for his music which crossed over genres as his personality.
The couple had a son Amiir Gregory Nelson, who lived for only six days before dying from a birth abnormality.
Prince and Mayte Garcia initially covered up the death of the son from the media and pretended that he was still alive, but they never really recovered from the pains of losing their son and a subsequent miscarriage that happened few months later. In the end, the marriage couldn’t hold on and the couple finally divorced in 2000.
Now in a memoir, The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince, the heartbreaking details of the birth and brief life of Amiir Nelson has emerged, bringing to light the issues that ended Prince’s first marriage.
The birth and death of Amiir Nelson
Prince was extremely happy when his muse- turned wife, Mayte Garcia broke the news of her pregnancy to him. But he strongly refused when the doctor recommended an amniocentesis to rule out genetic disorders as the cause of her bleeding. Since no reason was given for his disapproval in the memoir, some suggested that it could because of the fear of a miscarriage or his religious belief (Prince had become a Jehovah’s Witness five years earlier).
Still the doctors warning persisted and they counseled that the body might be trying to eject the fetus for a reason, especially as the ultrasound continued to show evidence of an abnormality. Yet Prince refused, and the couple prayed and hoped for the best.
But reality struck upon delivery, and their supposed moment of joy suddenly turned to anguish. When the doctors held the baby up to the light, Prince was stunned and terrified at his appearance. Amiir Nelson was born with a rare birth defect known as Pfeiffer syndrome type 2 which is caused by a premature fusion of the skull.
According to an excerpt obtained from pagesix.com, based on Mayte Garcia’s account, Amiir Nelson’s head was terribly misshapen, his hands and feet appear webbed. And his eyes, formed outside their sockets, appeared lidless and alarmed.
The renowned artist had built a swing set and set up a playroom at their Paisley Park home while expecting the baby. But Amiir Nelson, whose first name is Arabic for “Prince”, died after six days.
Garcia told People that when “they held the baby up to those harsh lights. The elation on” her “husband’s face turned to pure terror. 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’, writes Mayte Garcia as obtained from Newsday.
According to the same report, his death certificate showed that a “Boy Gregory” was born on October 16, 1996, to a “Mia Gregory” and died on October 23, 1996 of Pfeiffer syndrome type 2, a rare defect in which a baby’s skull bones fuse prematurely.
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A marriage that didn’t survive the loss of a son
Prince and Mayte Garcia were married when Prince was 37 and Garcia 22, but they have been together since she was 16. Garcia has been one of Prince’s backup singer and dancer since graduating from high school. They married on Valentine’s day in 1996 and Garcia soon got pregnant.
However, the trauma of losing a child and a subsequent miscarriage became too much for the couple and resulted to their divorce in 2000. Afterwards, Garcia was told that Prince burnt every reminder of her and their son.
The couple had previously carried on the charade that Nelson was still alive. And When Oprah came to interview them in their home; they showed her the playroom and claimed it was the baby’s favorite place. When she confronted them with the rumor going round about their baby, Prince responded, “Our family exists. We are just beginning it. We got many kids to have”. The couple just couldn’t come to terms with the loss of their baby.
After he died, they had the baby cremated and his ashes were brought to them in an urn. Garcia, who was overcome by grief, lay in bed with Amiir’s ashes for a long time. Prince, on the other hand, was so saddened that he had to go away.
Prince later married Manuela Testolini, a Canadian businesswoman in a private ceremony in 2001. But they separated in 2005 and divorced in 2006.
On April 2016, prince passed away from accidental overdose on Fentantyl at the age of 57. Garcia had never suspected that he was doing drugs but could recall that there were times when he complained of “migraine” or told him that he was “sick”. She has adopted a child and now runs a charity in honor of Amiir Nelson to offer help to families in the same circumstances.
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The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince was released on the first anniversary of prince’s death in 2017.
