I was reading about Prince's early years. I know he went to live with Andre as a young teen, but Andre has said that his mom adopted Prince. It sounds as if she formally adopted him so I was wondering if his natural mother gave him up. I did hear that Bernadette Anderson spoke to Prince's mom and she said that Prince could live with the Anderson family, but I wasn't aware that she formally adopted Prince.

That must have been rough for Prince that his own mother and father didn't want him. I don't know what that was about, but got to assume they both had their own "issues". But we all know what a sensitive soul Prince was and couldn't have been easy, although kids are resililant to some degree.

[Edited 5/14/16 19:46pm]

It would seem the adoption part is a bit stretched, to me. As a teen, he only had a few years before he was officially out of anyone's house and on his own. She might have been a legal guardian at best. I mean, if they lived in the same school district, who would know any better?

I wondered about that too, his bios usually seem to touch on him being abandoned around the age of 12 or 13, and Bernadette "adopting" him while he and Andre form bands together. Never knew if this was kind of a mythologized part of his background or were his parents going through some personal issues or something.

weirdozmedia said:

Also, Prince says he was an abused child. I don't think he was abused so much in a physical sense as much as neglected and abandoned.

As I understand it, Prince didn't get along with his stepfather, and his own father had rules he didn't like. He was not so much abandonned as he simply stayed over at his friend's house after an incident, a day turned into a week, then a month, then a year. The two women saw that he was most comfortable where he was and didn't want to force him into a situation he hated. Besides they didn't have to keep much of an eye on him as he could be heard practicing a lot.

http://thegedsection.com/blogs/like-father-like-son-prince-his-dad-from-childhood-through-the-journey-to-purple-rain

I found this article about Prince's relationship with his father, it doesn't anything about being adopted though.

nursev said:

alphastreet said:

sharonbell said:

I was reading about Prince's early years. I know he went to live with Andre as a young teen, but Andre has said that his mom adopted Prince. It sounds as if she formally adopted him so I was wondering if his natural mother gave him up. I did hear that Bernadette Anderson spoke to Prince's mom and she said that Prince could live with the Anderson family, but I wasn't aware that she formally adopted Prince.

I think he meant she took him in and raised him as her own, rather than legally adopting him.

Can you imagine what that conversation was like between Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Nelson was like? I bet Prince felt like his mother chose the husband over him.