London: Legendary Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti kept his four-year-old daughter Alice, from his 40- year-old second wife Nicoletta Mantovani, by his side when he was on deathbed, a new book has revealed.In the book, `When Life Changes Colour`, Mantovani has claimed that Pavarotti, who died of cancer more than two years back, had always loved Alice "to the nth degree" and wanted to be with her "until the very last moment".
"I knew that Alice was the best medicine for Luciano and I knew that for our daughter it would be important, even in future, to know she had been part of this," leading British newspaper `The Sunday Times` quoted Mantovani as saying.
In fact, Mantovani gave her account in a letter to author Lisa Galli, a psychologist and her close friend, who published it in her book.
According to the book, Pavarotti and his former secretary, whom he married in 2003, agreed "instinctively" that Alice should remain beside him as the disease shrank his huge frame. They did not want her to feel cut off from her parents for reasons she could not understand.
Alice was three when the tumour was diagnosed and four when the acute phase of the illness began, "and so she understood everything," her mother said. She saw her father
"in every situation".
Despite his weakness, the tenor continued to teach Alice how to paint, one of their favourite activities. She sometimes helped her father to eat, saying: "This evening I`m
daddy`s girlfriend and I`m giving him food."
Mantovani, who is now a Bologna city councillor, has also said that Pavarotti`s death in September 2007 at the age of 71, was "the end of everything" for her. "I live for memories and for Alice, the most beautiful thing that Luciano and life have given me."
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 17, 2010, 12:45
