The tragedy behind late Prince's children

He is known as one of the world's biggest music stars - but behind Prince's success was a number of tragic losses. The late Purple Rain singer - who was found dead  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.

"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.

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..."

"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's body was found at his Paisley Park recording studios.

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.