From the time they met, Garcia and Prince felt a mutual attraction, which evolved into a relationship when she was 19 and marriage four years later in But their union was marked by tragedy—the death of their first child six days after he was born from Pfeiffer syndrome, a rare genetic disorder associated with skeletal and systemic abnormalities, and a miscarriage two years later—and the couple divorced under the stress and heartbreak in Garcia's strength and resilience in the face of those tragedies would serve her well a decade later when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis MS , something only her closest friends and family members knew about.
She remained quiet about it, she says, because she feared people would think she wasn't capable of working. After her split from Prince and before her diagnosis, Garcia helped choreograph Britney Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U" video and taught Spears belly dancing moves, which she incorporated into her MTV Video Music Awards performance when she danced with a python around her neck. A more recent gig was the VH1 reality series Hollywood Exes , which ended in It makes you look back on your life and how much you've gone through.
The process also encouraged her to speak publicly about her disease. Garcia, who turns 46 in November, says she's no longer afraid MS will cost her work, mainly because she's been in remission for years. Her neurologist, Lilyana M. Amezcua, MD, FAAN, associate professor of neurology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, says the various disease-modifying drugs Garcia has been prescribed have helped ease her intermittent fatigue, headaches, heat sensitivity, and occasional sensation of an electric shock running down her neck and spine known as Lhermitte's sign.
But if you take care of yourself and stay in close communication with your doctors, it also can be manageable. Garcia's first flare-up occurred in when she began experiencing vision problems. I wasn't starving myself or anything, but I would eat every three or four hours and only fish," she says.
I was also losing weight. I had headaches. I couldn't see brake lights and my depth perception was gone, so I couldn't drive. She also was exhausted, which she attributed to her restrictive diet, unaware that crippling fatigue often accompanies an MS attack. Finally, after seeing four different eye doctors, she was referred to a neuro-ophthalmologist, a physician specializing in vision conditions related to the nervous system. At Garcia's appointment three weeks later, the doctor said her symptoms sounded like optic neuritis and scheduled an MRI, noting that it might be MS.
Optic neuritis is an autoimmune disorder in which the optic nerve, which connects the retina of the eye to the brain, becomes inflamed. Symptoms include pain and vision loss. I remember thinking, 'I'm healthy—how could this be happening to me?
It doesn't discriminate," says Garcia, who was born on an Army base in Alabama to parents of Puerto Rican descent. As a child, she lived in Germany and the United States and spent her summers with extended family in Puerto Rico. While the MRI provided some answers, Garcia was still worried about the slow return of her vision. But I do notice it in stressful situations. I'll feel pressure in that eye.
Then, even without medication, most patients improve and recover their vision. Optic neuritis is not unusual among Hispanics with MS, says Dr. A study in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology found that Hispanics with Native American ancestry had a higher rate of optic neuritis than whites.
The causes are likely environmental and genetic, says Dr. Amezcua, although the genetic relationship is still being examined. More studies are warranted, she says, especially since less than 1 percent of the literature on MS includes Hispanics and African Americans, according to a study in Neurology: Clinical Practice. Due to a complex interaction of environmental and genetic factors, people of northern European descent have been thought to be most at risk for MS, says Dr.
Because of that, she believes, doctors aren't always looking for it in other ethnicities. Hispanics seem to develop it sooner and have a worse disease course than non-Hispanic whites, says Dr. Amezcua, although this has not been the case with Garcia, who has had a mild course.
On average, Hispanics present with the first symptoms of MS three to five years earlier than whites, and it takes them two to three years longer to receive a diagnosis. The reasons for this are unclear, says Silvia R. Garcia has now written a book about those years. I thought it would be perfect for it to come out on his anniversary.
She describes a period of time at the beginning of their relationship that looks for all the world like wooing, but she insists it was not. His way of thinking was very useful and open for me. I had a work ethic, I had a discipline. We just got along great. She lived with her parents in Germany and Prince called her often, sent her letters and cassettes. I miss u. Her parents were unfazed.
Garcia was never intimidated. He was just so open and cool. When she was 17, he flew her to Paisley Park to sing on a record. They ate pancakes and drove around listening to Diamonds and Pearls.
At 18, he rented her an apartment nearby. She hung around waiting for his call. For their whole relationship, she was not allowed to call him, only he could call her. She was told she would dance on the Diamond and Pearls tour. Prince was a harsh taskmaster and always immaculate. At rehearsals, if you looked sloppy, you were sent home. Garcia was struck by how Prince was found after his death, wearing a black shirt and pants on backwards.
I ask her if any of this felt controlling, which is my impression from the book. I overcame it. Was that a strange moment? I mean, the flirtation. I was I was ready. She refutes any notion that she was vulnerable. I loved this man. It was just a great connection between the two of us. Prince proposed in They talked about being soulmates and knowing each other from past lives. The wedding was a fantasy: half a million dollars of flowers, Paisley Park repainted in white and gold.
Then Garcia became pregnant. Mayte Garcia Actress Additional Crew. Up 6, this week. View rank on IMDbPro ». View Resume Official Photos ». She is known for her work on Firehouse Dog , Psych and Ten She was previously married to Prince. See full bio ».
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