nelcp777 said:

morningsong said:

Ok there's no way around it, chapter 11 makes him look like an utterly complete AH.

I feel the same.

Totally agree, he was an a**hole. And I think she is being VERY kind to in chapter 11 (and part of chapter 10 as well). Based on what he did to her, she was well within her right to rip him to shreds! Yet she doesn't...and that says something about her, about her character and about her love and devotion to him. If you ask me, he messed up big time when he left her!

NickiStarr...interesting points, I never thought of it that way. I had no idea that he was still in touch with Devin Devasquez in the early 90s. I thought she was only in his life during the 80s.

NickiStarr said:

P did have a say in who was in the video. He probably blamed someone else because HE didn't think she was a good fit. Guess what...he wanted Devin Devasquez to be in the video as well. He asked her but she had a scheduling conflict...

206Michelle said:

Regarding chapter five, just some thoughts:

First, Mayte was incredibly accomplished as a dancer. I don't have much of a background in dance. I took some dance classes here and there. I love to dance to music in the car and at home. But her world of dance is new to me. Music and dance are natural partners, so I can understand how she and Prince naturally gravitated toward one another and developed a relationship that was all-encompassing---artistic, friendship, romantic, and professional. It's also obvious that hse's fluent in 3 languages, which I knew, but I can see why now. She spent so much of her childhood in Germany.

.

It was interesting reading about the filming of the "Diamonds and Pearls" video. I would have guessed that Prince chose who would be cast in the video, as he did in most other aspects of his world, but according to Mayte, the director, Rebecca Blake, called the shots when it came to casting in the video.

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I've never seen "3 Chains 'o Gold" in its entirely, jsut some of the individual videos. I thought it was very interesting how the filming for 3CoG more or less ebbed and flowed with what Prince wanted, like there wasn't a defined structure to the filming. He jsut had money like that where he could hire people to just go film or make music or travel.

.

It's interesting that she says she joined the NPG in 1994 (p. 120). I thought that she was a member of the NPG earlier than that because she was on the D&P tour, Act I, and Act II tours.

PennyPurple said:

Carmen was still around in Chapter 6. Prince wanted Mayte and Carmen to hang out.

,

Mayte asked Prince specifically if he was dating Carmen, of course he said, NO she just had a crush on him.

,

Prince got mad because she had breakfast with a male bandmember. The band didn't want to have anything to do with her after this. They were probably afraid they'd lose their job.

,

The band was talking and laughing about her, she felt Prince only had her in the band so she wouldn't go to Cairo.

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This is also the chapter where Prince fined her for gaining a little weight.

.

After the tour he made her start paying rent. The thing that gets me, is he always had someone else do his dirty work for him, like the accountants.

PP, to your point about P getting someone else to do the dirty work, !!! Great point!!!

So based on what Mayte writes in chapter 5 and 6...Prince could be a cheapskate!!! Still love him, but he was cheap!

DD55 said:

206Michelle said:

Chapter Five Timeline/Summary

Just to refresh everyone, chapter four ended with Mayte making her first trip to Minnesota to visit Prince during the last week of December 1990.

.

Chapter five:

Early 1991 – Mayte is living in Wiesbaden, Germany. It would be the last year that she spent living in Germany. She is the “go-to belly dancer” in Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, and Mainz and maintains a steady schedule of belly-dancing gigs. She goes to school for part of the day (presumably at General H. H. Arnold High School) and spends the other half of the school day taking ballet classes. She is preparing for the professional certification exam. Mayte aspires to go to Cairo and earn a living there as a belly dancer.

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Early 1991 – Mayte recounts going to two proms. For the last prom that she attended, she was only there for about 30 minutes because she had a belly-dancing/flamenco gig that same night. The morning after the last prom and the belly-dancing/flamenco gig, she has the professional certification exam. Mama’s favorite performance of Mayte’s was Mayte’s performance at this belly-dancing/flamenco gig.

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Early 1991 – Mayte passes the professional dancing exam. Her classical (ballet) routine was good enough that she she passed the entire exam with just the classical performance. Her parents are thrilled. On the day when she passes the exam, she talks with Prince over the phone during the evening.

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Spring 1991 – Mayte makes a short trip to the USA and visits Jan, who is attending the University of Maryland.

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May 1991 – At the age of 17, Mayte graduates from high school.

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May/June 1991 – Unbeknownst to Mayte, Prince’s legal team created a power of attorney document, making Prince her legal guardian for six months. The document allowed Mayte to travel with and perform with Prince while she was still a minor. Mayte’s father signed the document.

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1991 – Prince flies Mayte to Los Angeles, California, USA, where Prince’s team is making the “Diamonds and Pearls” music video. Rebecca Blake, director of the D&P music video, does not select Mayte to be a part of the D&P video. Prince did not agree with Rebecca Blake, but she made the final call on who was cast for the video. Mayte visits Prince at the house that he is renting in LA. Mayte and Prince discuss their parents's relationships. For the first time, Mayte and Prince discuss Prince’s father. Prince and Mayte go shopping on Melrose Avenue. They ride in a limo and have a security escort while shopping.

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1991 – Mayte is still living in Germany, but makes frequent trips to Paisley Park. She is present for the recording of some of the songs on the album. She watches rehearsals for the Diamonds and Pearls Tour.

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Summer of 1991 – After seeing the movie City Slickers, Mayte becomes a vegetarian.

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1991 – Mayte tells Prince about her upcoming trip to Egypt to visit Madame Abla. Prince sends director Randee St. Nicholas and a film crew of about a dozen people with Mayte to Egypt in order to capture footage for what would become the 3 Chains o’ Gold video set. Randee and the crew follow Mayte around as she visits Egypt, contriving some footage. Someone sends the footage back to Prince.

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November 1992 – Mayte turns 18. [Note: Given that she was born in 1973, I suspect that 1992 is an error and that she actually turned 18 in November of 1991.

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Late 1991/early 1992 – Prince asks Mayte to come and stay for a while in Minnesota. At first, she lives in motels/hotels, then moves into an apartment. There is no specific project on which Mayte and Prince are working, but Prince wanted Mayte in Minnesota to work with him on an on-call basis and for hanging out. After she turns 18, Mayte and Prince’s relationship starts to evolve and become more personal. She has no clear role, he is not paying her, and the best way to describe her place in his world at this time is that she is his muse. After Mayte raises the issue of being paid, Prince has one of his team members put her on his payroll for $300 per month. Mayte has strong feelings for Prince and decides to stick around in Minnesota, even though she could have been making more money belly dancing elsewhere.

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January 1992 – Prince sends Mayte to New York for a photo shoot and press training.

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1992 – Mayte’s father visits her in Minnesota. Mayte’s father has discussions with Prince regarding Prince and Mayte’s business relationship.

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1992 – Mayte becomes a part of the NPG. [Note: Mayte said that she joined the NPG in 1994. I am guessing that this is an error, because based on where she states this date in the book, p. 120, the actual date when she joined the NPG is more likely 1992.] The NPG is preparing for the Diamonds and Pearls Tour. Some of the members of the NPG at this time were: drummer Michael Bland, bassist Sonny T. Bland, keyboardist Tommy Barbarella, vocalist and keyboardist Rosie Gaines, dancers Tony, Damon, and Kirk (aka TDK or The Game Boyz), and muses/mascots Lori Elle and Robia LaMorte, aka Diamond and Pearl. Lori and Prince were romantically involved.

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At the end of the chapter, Mayte discusses how Prince was always impeccably dressed and groomed. She notes the irony of him being found dead with his clothes on backwards and his socks inside-out.

206Michelle, your summaries are fantastic. Thank you!!!!!!

You are welcome. Thanks for the positive feedback!

206Michelle said:

PennyPurple said:

Yes but it did answer some questions. Happy to see that she put some of the accusations (here on the org) to rest.

I feel the same way. I have read various threads speculating that Mayte cheated on and that Prince cheated on . Given his history of having many women and given how soon he married Manuela after divorcing Mayte, I had a strong suspicion that he may have cheated on Mayte. However, I never believed that she cheated on him. I'm glad she addressed this in the book.

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Even after all of the SH** she went through while they were together, she still LOVES the man and is devoted to him. She could have ripped him to shreds in the book, but she does not. She criticizes him, as she should, but more often than not, she writes about him with great love and devotion.

.

Before I read the book, I liked Mayte and felt that she was good for Prince. I felt that it was unfortunate what they went through with the deaths of their son and the miscarriage, and thought that it was sad that they ended up divorcing. After reading this book, I believe that leaving/divorcing Mayte was one of Prince's biggest mistakes. I believe that she was good for him. Given that she still has enormous love and devotion for him to this day, I believe that had he remained faithful to her, she would have stood by him through just about anything . (I suppose that one could question whether staying with him would have been a good move on her part.)

.

I wonder if Prince ever regretted leaving Mayte. Knowing what I know about Prince, he seems to have had a hard time admitting when he messed up or was wrong about something. I don't know whether this tendency of his was due to arrogance, insecurity, a combination of both, or something else.

YES, I agree with this and a previous comment (forgive me for not quoting exactly) that described this book as a powerful coming-of-age story of a strong women...and a concurrent tragedy for Prince that he let her drift (or rather pushed her) out of his life. 'How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough?' WHAT in Gods' name did the man want?

Bodhitheblackdog said:

NotACleverName said:

Bodhitheblackdog said:

YES, I agree with this and a previous comment (forgive me for not quoting exactly) that described this book as a powerful coming-of-age story of a strong women...and a concurrent tragedy for Prince that he let her drift (or rather pushed her) out of his life. 'How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough?' WHAT in Gods' name did the man want?

Wow....very powerful thoughts in these posts. I have bolded some that really resonated. I do want to add that I think Mayte was the first woman he cared about, up to that time, that truly wanted to be a wife and mother. She would have gladly given up a career, outside the home environment (just clarifying because stay at home moms have a tough, demanding job) to be all he needed in a spouse and from the letters, he obviously thought she would be a nurturing mother to their children.....just heart breaking any way you look at it. For both of them. I can't remember where I read it but there was a story about Prince asking a protégé if she wanted a career or family....I think she chose a career so she was gone. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

It does ring a bell. Can't remember where. The problem is there have been so many opinions, statements, and stuff put out there on the org, it's hard to remember whether what I read was fact or fiction, or if it came from a reliable source even.

morningsong said:

Ok there's no way around it, chapter 11 makes him look like an utterly complete AH.

yeah. romantically speaking, it just.... wasn't

DD55 said:

PennyPurple said:

If everyone is ready we can move to Chapter 5.

Chapter 5 First impressions....

In this chapter is where she tells of P becoming her legal guardian for 6 months so she could travel with him (her parents were still in Germany). But she says she was completely oblivious to this at the time and the document came as a surprise to her — just a few weeks ago.

.

So she found out sometime in the last 9 months or so… I wonder what lead her to find this document now? Where was it? Maybe she talked to her parents about it and was just shown it recently? Maybe her parents didn’t want her to know about it? How she came upon this document after so many years is curious to me.

.

Anyone else have the same quesitons?

That part seemed fishy as hell. She says she was 17.5 and her parents trusted her to be able to deal with all that stuff since she was professionally dancing for years implying that she was some kind of super grown person. If they really felt that way, couldn't she have just applied for legal emancipation, instead of just signing her off to Prince? What was so urgent that Prince couldn't wait six months or one of her parents couldn't camp out for six months (they did it often enough)? And how is it she goes from making $33,333.33/yr (approximately $65 k a year in today's money) in mid 1980s money to something that works out to minimum wage if she worked 80 hr/ a week if she's old and smart enough to be an adult? One reason they have rules about minors in showbiz is so adults don't exploit them sexually and/or for cash. How is it that her parents were savvy enough to get that for her belly dancing but not enough for her to break even (at least)? I understand maybe taking a pay cut b/c it's Prince, and think of the exposure, but maybe make sure she's not snatching food off the room service cart to eat? And why wouldn't they tell her that this document even exists or what it is? She never says, "My parents said, 'we're signing this piece of paper so you can work around the clock with prince and so we don't baby sit you."

Am I getting the chronology wrong? Because she bounces all over the place.

[Edited 4/10/17 17:25pm]

[Edited 4/10/17 17:27pm]

XxAxX said:

morningsong said:

Ok there's no way around it, chapter 11 makes him look like an utterly complete AH.

yeah. romantically speaking, it just.... wasn't

Complete 180.

morningsong said:

XxAxX said:

yeah. romantically speaking, it just.... wasn't

Complete 180.

I will never leave you I will never leave you I will never leave you I will... whoa hang on, could you sign this annulment thing please?

XxAxX said:

morningsong said:

Complete 180.

I will never leave you I will never leave you I will never leave you I will... whoa hang on, could you sign this annulment thing please?

I'm sorry but I had to laugh.


Something's got to be missing in all this. It has to.

206Michelle said:

Bodhitheblackdog said:

206Michelle said:

I feel the same way. I have read various threads speculating that Mayte cheated on and that Prince cheated on . Given his history of having many women and given how soon he married Manuela after divorcing Mayte, I had a strong suspicion that he may have cheated on Mayte. However, I never believed that she cheated on him. I'm glad she addressed this in the book.

.

Even after all of the SH** she went through while they were together, she still LOVES the man and is devoted to him. She could have ripped him to shreds in the book, but she does not. She criticizes him, as she should, but more often than not, she writes about him with great love and devotion.

.

Before I read the book, I liked Mayte and felt that she was good for Prince. I felt that it was unfortunate what they went through with the deaths of their son and the miscarriage, and thought that it was sad that they ended up divorcing. After reading this book, I believe that leaving/divorcing Mayte was one of Prince's biggest mistakes. I believe that she was good for him. Given that she still has enormous love and devotion for him to this day, I believe that had he remained faithful to her, she would have stood by him through just about anything . (I suppose that one could question whether staying with him would have been a good move on her part.)

.

I wonder if Prince ever regretted leaving Mayte. Knowing what I know about Prince, he seems to have had a hard time admitting when he messed up or was wrong about something. I don't know whether this tendency of his was due to arrogance, insecurity, a combination of both, or something else.

YES, I agree with this and a previous comment (forgive me for not quoting exactly) that described this book as a powerful coming-of-age story of a strong women...and a concurrent tragedy for Prince that he let her drift (or rather pushed her) out of his life. 'How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough?' WHAT in Gods' name did the man want?

I totally agree. I think it's fair to say that by the time he married Mayte, he was ready to settle down with one woman. He wanted a long-term committed marriage and he wanted children with his wife.

.

He married Manuela in 2001.

It was Manuela who filed for divorce. Prince did not want the divorce.

In an article on people.com from July 26, 2006, "Princes Wife, Manuela, Filed for Divorce," there is the following information:

Prince’s personal lawyer, Patrick Cousins, confirms that Testolini Nelson is the petitioner. “His wife filed for divorce. This isn t something that he wanted,” says Cousins. “There isn’t anything else. He didn’t counter sue. He is just trying to get it resolved." (Source: http://people.com/celebri...divorce/).

.

He wanted to be married. He wanted a family. He and Mayte lost 2 babies. He lost his way. He was distracted by LG, JW, and MT. He left Mayte. He and Mayte divorced. He married Manuela. Manuela divorced him. He obviously didn't try to get back with Mayte in 2006. In other words, he had what he wanted in Mayte, they hit some big bumps in the road, and he let her go. He was flawed, and he messed up, big time.

XxAxX said:

morningsong said:

Complete 180.

I will never leave you I will never leave you I will never leave you I will... whoa hang on, could you sign this annulment thing please?

I know, XxAxX, right?

.

Prince was an artist, highly creative. And I think the annulment thing was a sad manifestation of his incredible creativity because he was just full of you know what when he asked Mayte to sign that. I wanted to slap him!

morningsong said:

XxAxX said:

I will never leave you I will never leave you I will never leave you I will... whoa hang on, could you sign this annulment thing please?

I'm sorry but I had to laugh.


Something's got to be missing in all this. It has to.

What do u think is missing, morningsong? I'm being serious.

I am am having to play catch on this thread because work is so demading right now LOL I think the document may have surfaced when they were sorting out the heirs to the estate? Maybe they came across his legal documents and this was one of them?

206Michelle said:

morningsong said:

I'm sorry but I had to laugh.


Something's got to be missing in all this. It has to.

What do u think is missing, morningsong? I'm being serious.

I have no idea. But it's not lining up for me. There's a big piece missing, maybe several.

kmama07 said:

206Michelle said:

I feel the same way. I have read various threads speculating that Mayte cheated on and that cheated on Mayte. Given his history of having many women and given how soon he married Manuela after divorcing Mayte, I had a strong suspicion that he may have cheated on Mayte. However, I never believed that she cheated on him. I'm glad she addressed this in the book.

.

Even after all of the SH** she went through while they were together, she still LOVES the man and is devoted to him. She could have ripped him to shreds in the book, but she does not. She criticizes him, as she should, but more often than not, she writes about him with great love and devotion.

.

Before I read the book, I liked Mayte and felt that she was good for Prince. I felt that it was unfortunate what they went through with the deaths of their son and the miscarriage, and thought that it was sad that they ended up divorcing. After reading this book, I believe that leaving/divorcing Mayte was one of Prince's biggest mistakes. I believe that she was good for him. Given that she still has enormous love and devotion for him to this day, I believe that had he remained faithful to her, she would have stood by him through just about anything . (I suppose that one could question whether staying with him would have been a good move on her part.)

.

I wonder if Prince ever regretted leaving Mayte. Knowing what I know about Prince, he seems to have had a hard time admitting when he messed up or was wrong about something. I don't know whether this tendency of his was due to arrogance, insecurity, a combination of both, or something else.

[Edited 4/10/17 16:39pm]

I kinda got the impression he wasn't very emotionally mature when it came to personal relationships. Hence the "never looking back", cutting ties easily yet making sure he always had something or someone on the back burner.

Totally agree, kmama07.

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I was a psychology major in college and there's been a lot of research done on attachment between children and caregivers. I think that based on his tumultuous childhood, Prince may have had some significant attachment issues.

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Going back to the book, Mayte tells a couple of stories about Prince's father. But how many stories does Mayte have about Prince's mother? None. Prince's mom is mentioned a couple of times in the book, in passing. Her absence is very telling, in my opinion.

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How much do Prince fans know about his mother? Very little. We some basic details about her life. But Prince NEVER talked about her...That was his MAMA...And he NEVER talked about her...Think about that.

[Edited 4/10/17 18:06pm]

206Michelle said:

morningsong said:

I'm sorry but I had to laugh.


Something's got to be missing in all this. It has to.

What do u think is missing, morningsong? I'm being serious.

why did prince turn away from mayte and toward larry graham/JW/manuella? it was a very very strange time period at Paisley Park, the change was palpable for us party going fans

XxAxX said:

206Michelle said:

What do u think is missing, morningsong? I'm being serious.

why did prince turn away from mayte and toward larry graham/JW/manuella? it was a very very strange time period at Paisley Park, the change was palpable for us party going fans

XxAxX, here's my two cents.

.

I think that lost ALL SENSE OF DIRECTION when Amiir died...he and Mayte both did. His death completely shattered their world. I think it's fair to say that the death rocked to the core, and was trying to make sense of his son's death. The second pregnancy ending in miscarriage made things even worse. So it was the loss of the children that were the underlying issue that caused the biggest problems in the marriage.

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Mayte talks about she and praying together, but she never talks about them going to church. Not saying they didn't, but it stood out to me that she never talks about them going to church. So it's possible that maybe the lack of a church/spiritual community created a kind of spiritual void for . Again, just my thoughts.

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Also, I think that and M didn't have much of a support system on which they could lean when Amiir died. Based on what she writes in the book, wasn't associating much with his family members. From what's in the book, Mayte's life in Minnesota was based primarily around and she didn't talk about having a circle of friends independent of him. She only talks about her dogs.

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My understanding is that Prince's mom was Baptist and his dad was a Seventh-Day Adventist. There are some commonalities between the Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses. Perhaps commonalities between those 2 denominations made open to JW teachings. Again, just my thoughts.

.

I think that the straws that finally broke the camel's back, as the saying goes, were 3 factors: Larry Graham, the Jehovah's witness faith, and Manuela Testolini. The presence of these 3 factors, on top of Amiir's death and the miscarriage, caused to lose his way, to stray, and to turn his back on Mayte. LG never should have come in between and Mayte, he crossed the line. was a married man and had no business messing with other women. And MT had no business messing with a married man. I think also that Mayte probably shouldn't have spent so much time in Spain. She would have been wise to remember that 's woman stays in Minneapolis. But that being said, I put most of the blame for the divorce on , not Mayte. He's the one who really messed up.

[Edited 4/10/17 18:23pm]

XxAxX said:

206Michelle said:

What do u think is missing, morningsong? I'm being serious.

why did prince turn away from mayte and toward larry graham/JW/manuella? it was a very very strange time period at Paisley Park, the change was palpable for us party going fans

One thing that wasn't directly mentioned in the book is the dress incident that was very infamous here on the org, I never really believed it, but given it was indirectly mentioned in the book, it had to be a big deal.

morningsong said:

XxAxX said:

why did prince turn away from mayte and toward larry graham/JW/manuella? it was a very very strange time period at Paisley Park, the change was palpable for us party going fans

One thing that wasn't directly mentioned in the book is the dress incident that was very infamous here on the org, I never really believed it, but given it was indirectly mentioned in the book, it had to be a big deal.

Please elaborate morningsong. The dress incident is news to me.

206Michelle said:

XxAxX said:

I will never leave you I will never leave you I will never leave you I will... whoa hang on, could you sign this annulment thing please?

I know, XxAxX, right?

.

Prince was an artist, highly creative. And I think the annulment thing was a sad manifestation of his incredible creativity because he was just full of you know what when he asked Mayte to sign that. I wanted to slap him!

Yup

soladeo1 said:

One thing I learned from the book that I didn't know... Prince's ruffly, Edwardian look in Purple Rain was inspired by his appreciation of the movie AMADEUS...which sort of makes sense...

Also, the two Diamond & Pearl girls sound like total bitches!

But both movies came out the same year - so how can this be? PR was already being filmed before Amadeus came out ....

206Michelle said:

Bodhitheblackdog said:

YES, I agree with this and a previous comment (forgive me for not quoting exactly) that described this book as a powerful coming-of-age story of a strong women...and a concurrent tragedy for Prince that he let her drift (or rather pushed her) out of his life. 'How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough?' WHAT in Gods' name did the man want?

I totally agree. I think it's fair to say that by the time he married Mayte, he was ready to settle down with one woman. He wanted a long-term committed marriage and he wanted children with his wife.

.

He married Manuela in 2001.

It was Manuela who filed for divorce. Prince did not want the divorce.

In an article on people.com from July 26, 2006, "Princes Wife, Manuela, Filed for Divorce," there is the following information:

Prince’s personal lawyer, Patrick Cousins, confirms that Testolini Nelson is the petitioner. “His wife filed for divorce. This isn t something that he wanted,” says Cousins. “There isn’t anything else. He didn’t counter sue. He is just trying to get it resolved." (Source: http://people.com/celebri...divorce/).

.

He wanted to be married. He wanted a family. He and Mayte lost 2 babies. He lost his way. He was distracted by LG, JW, and MT. He left Mayte. He and Mayte divorced. He married Manuela. Manuela divorced him. He obviously didn't try to get back with Mayte in 2006. In other words, he had what he wanted in Mayte, they hit some big bumps in the road, and he let her go. He was flawed, and he messed up, big time.

BINGO! Re your brilliant last paragraph summation...though I disagree re M2 initiating the divorce. While she may have filed, I believe this was after P froze and locked her out, and probably cut her off financially. At that time he was also powerfully motivated to placate the JW's and appear like the wronged, spiritual, deep believer/follower...and maybe he was. But, he was also not a dummy and it may have been dawning on him that the JW's, LG and M2 all played him. He was flawed, he did mess up and despite his control freak persona I'm sure his vulnerability, despair, and confusion blazed like a beacon for all to see. He carried within him the seeds of his own destruction...it's Greek tragedy, Chanhassen style.

206Michelle said:

bsprout said:

206Michelle said:

Please elaborate morningsong. The dress incident is news to me.

I remember reading about the dress incident here on the org. Manuela allegedly wore one (or more) of Mayte's dresses while Mayte was living in Spain. I also didn't catch the indirect reference to this in the book.

I used to always wonder how does anybody know that? But she did mention about some girl wearing some other's girls dress, I forgot all she said but it was like a shadow of what happened with her.

XxAxX said: