Vanity, Prince’s Ex-Girlfriend, Dead at the Age of 57

vince girlfriend vanity dead

Vanity, Prince’s ex-girlfriend and protégé, died after lengthy illnesses. The singer, who was born as Denise Katrina Matthews, abused crack and alcohol at the height of her career. Her addictions led to kidney failure.

Just two years ago, Vanity set up a GoFundMe page to help pay her medical bills.

On the donation page, she described how doctors told her she had months to live back in 1992. She underwent 23 surgeries and daily dialysis treatments to help prolong her life. After news of her passing, the donations continue to flood into her account.

Just four months ago, she was diagnosed with Sclerosis Encapsulating Peritonitis – inflammation of the small intestines – which seems to be the cause of her death.

She was just 57-years-old.

R.I.P. Vanity

49 COMMENTS

    • What is even more sad about this is there will be many young black teenage girls who will repeat the same mistakes Denise Mathews made.

    • Rihanna? Please…No comparison. Vanity/Denise did it first. The clothes, shocking the public and making heads turn. Vanity/Denise was an UNDENIABLE BEAUTY.
      Forget about it…

  1. She was absolutely stunning! She was an ordained minister and turned her life around after Vanity 6. She will be greatly missed. Rest in Paradise Denise.

    • I guess she was 'stunning' because she was half white? She decided to be a drug addict, so she brought it on herself. No point in trying to seek god when you already did your dirt without a care.

      • Tony, not today. This is not the time for ratchedness. Please don't. Remember, we all fall short of His glory, and she admitted freely and openly that she did, so just stop.

      • You have no concept of who God, Jesus and the Hily Spirit is Tony.. We ALL fall short of his glory, we are ALL no good sinners, but he's a loving and forgiving Father, who longs for his children to repent and change their lives. I suggest you puck up the bible and read it.. Ummm on second thought, they have the talking bible, please read it.. Her sin is not my sin, and mine is not hers.. But guess what, ITS ALL SIN IN OR HEAVENLY FATHERS EYES.. I'm so happy man in will not be the judge and jury in the end., no harm to you, but think before you type sometimes..

        • I appreciate and agree witb your comments. The scripture says My Grace is sufficient for their: gor my strength is made perfect in weakness". Whatever Ms. Matthews did in this life is forgotten by God. She was washed in His BLOOD anf made whole.

          • Thank you for speaking God's truthful words.. His words have never changed, but people have..

        • You have no concept either except for the one your slave masters gave you. Cut that fake ass holier than thou shit.
          If Jesus saves, why are his most devoted followers catching the most hell? Wake the f*ck up.

      • That's a valid question. Tony, you hit a nerve that makes white-acculturated Black Americans uncomfortable. Only stupid and genetically incompetent Blacks perceive any visible traits of Caucasian DNA to be an improvement or upgrade to physical beauty. Something is inherently wrong in the brains of so-called Blacks when yellow, beige and pink become the defacto standard for BLACKNESS. Are we supposed to be blind and pretend that recessive Neanderthal-ape lineage is invisible? Are we supposed to ignore that Denise Matthews is MIXED RACE?? She is NOT Black.

        The concept of a patriarchal male deity called 'God' wasn't originated by Blacks. God is NOT our culture nor in any of base 8 maternal languages. AUTOCHTHONOUS BLACKS have ALWAYS known about FEMININE and MASCULINE FORCES. We have to reclaim BLACK MENTAL INTELLIGENCE because europeanization has warped us and interrupted our spiritual communications.

      • Tony, no disrespect BUT…her being part Canadian had no more to do with her beauty than her being part Black. She was truly BEAUTIFUL & from what I understand…"beautiful from inside" more so than out.

        A person being mixed is irrelevant. PEOPLE make it relevant.

  2. May she rest in peace. Before there was Beyonce there was Vanity. I always thought Prince giving her that name was a curse. Also her being mixed has nothing to do with her beauty. She was abused by her black father for fifteen years and her white mother did nothing. She dated Nikki Six from Motley Crue (heroine addict) , married football player Anthony Williams (killed two people) .

    • Prince originally called her vagina but he was convinced to change it to vanity and let's not forget rick James discovered her

      • Exactly, and "Vagina" was supposed to be pronounced as" Vageena." I'm glad Denise decided not to go along with that foolishness. What's kinda disheartening is that alot of people want to focus on her outer beauty, even going as far as saying she was THE most beautiful woman in the world. She wasn't, there's no way of telling who's most beautiful & that depends on what your definition of beauty is. I feel she was ONE of the most beautiful women in the industry. I wish people would focus more on her inner beauty. She became a very spiritual person who to my understanding, always tried to help those in need. She was down to Earth, & seemed she would make a great friend. I feel the whole Prince persona did not serve her well & was not the true her.

      • But she was Prince first muse. I wonder how he feel about her passing? That had to hit home for him.

  3. So sad that a black woman so beautiful was surrounded by demons! Denise was one of the most beautiful women in hollywood history! Unfortunately, she experimented with the demons and debauchery that hollywood has to offer. Prince was the beginning of her downward spiral towards satan! I'm glad she was able to find God and turn her life around. May Denise rest in Heaven for all eternity. May all black women reject hollywood and all of the demons who play in hollywood's playground.

    P.S. go watch the movie Action Jackson

  4. Interesting today on mainstream white blogs they are calling Denise the most beautiful woman ever seen in Hollywood. I didn't know that many people even knew who she was.
    I guess Prince was really obsessed with her because he always seemed to be filling the Vanity position whenever he picked a new girlfriend. But none after her were ever as special as Denise.

  5. Vanity was one of the few women on planet earth who could make men's heads do a complete 180 degrees. Whenever she walked into a room, all eyes were focused on her. In my opinion, Prince was the worse thing that happened to Vanity. Then her screweing around with drugs and rock stars made it worse. I'm so glad she conquered her demons and accepted God in her life. I pray that God clutched her soul and escalated it to Heaven. Rest in Heaven Denise Mathews!

  6. She took the drugs, she participated in the orgies with the revolution and the time, Nikki 6 wrote about all the drugs they done in his book

  7. Very sad, I hope she is resting in the arm of the Lord. It was her life script and she played it well. I always had major respect for how she left the game, and not only became saved, but EVANGELIZED as well. She dealt with emotional and physical pain with grace. She is now an angel in heaven as she was on earth.

  8. Just found out Prince did a sold out concert in Australia and dedicated to Denise. In the middle of the set he broke down and went off stage. I feel so sorry for him. ?

    • DR1, did you hear about that big lipped lady on Mob Wives…Big Ang?
      She's gone too. She died of 2 different cancers & my first thought was "ALL those plastic surgeris & injections." I don't watch that show but we met her at an event Ed Hardy's people hosted. I recall her being very nice but I kept trying not to stare….she had a LOT of facial surgery.

    • So what! If Prince really cared for Denise Matthews, he would have helped pay her medical bills. That tribute concert was strictly for self promotion! # FuckPrince

  9. @DaisyDooks Vanity being mixed did not help or hurt her career. She was not immune to pain, abuse, disease, etc. She was an attractive looking woman but she was damaged. Mix raced people don't have an advantage over regular folk only ignorant people think like that.

    • @Anonymous – The NON-DECEPTION is that Denise Matthews was MIXED RACE, but she is identified as 'Black' by others within this comment forum. I question the genetic competence of those who DENY her visible white traits to claim her as 'Black'. However, I do realize that Blacks who reside outside of America are quite honest in distinguishing mixed race individuals from actual Blacks. Many Black Americans are delusional, dishonest and recognize everything else with straight hair and tanned skin as 'Black' except for actual Blacks. That is the impact and mental conditioning of white acculturation.

      Tony asked a valid question. Is Vanity stunning because of her 'white blood'? Black American's perception of beauty is DICTATED by white standards. No wonder other Black autochthons see Black Americans as imitation Europeans–akata and oyinbo.

    • @Anonymous, I hear you & that's my point about all of this. Although I agree w/some of what the others have said about was Denise considered beautiful because of some of her white features, to me the bigger picture is that her beauty did not get her alot of happiness & peace. She's been described as "breathtakingly beautiful" & "could make men's head do a 180", but did she ever find true love? Prince for damn sure WAS NOT the love of her life; I remember her sister making side comments about being glad after they had broken up. There's also a story of him taunting her with/and/or throwing cocaine in her face when he knew she was an addict. Also, did this beauty get her riches? Looks like she did ok, but in the later years of her life, she struggled financially I guess mainly because of her medical bills & even had to set up a GoFundMe account. Point is, beauty isn't everything, personally I'd rather have intellect & power. If one could ask Denise if she had to do it all over again, if she had to choose 1, which she'd rather have- all this (useless) beauty or good health & long life, I wonder what she'd say. For those of us who've followed her over the years, her death unfortunately isn't a shock, some have said they were shocked of hearing of her passing. With all the health issues, etc. she had, it's a miracle she lived to be 57. BRAVO.

  10. Does anybody know what happened to Prince' s other protege Millenia? Last thing I heard she was arrested on drug charges.

  11. The real question is why have so many of Prince ex girlfriends ended up with so many personal problems?

    • Because although Prince is talented, he is twisted and self-hatin' like a muthaf**ka

    • Number one they was already on drugs and prince is a manipulator Nona gaye, Apollonian all talk about the way prince dumped them Wendy and Lisa got married we knew they was Lesbos anyway, sinead o Connor married a woman but we already knew about her too we know about the times fruityasses too but to each theirown

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