Prince's ex-wife Manuela Testolini has revealed that the late music icon, who died in April last year, carried out secret charity work throughout his career. 

She spoke to the Rolling Stone magazine about his philanthropic efforts and explained that wanting to make a difference just seemed to be in his blood: "He was definitely an aware guy. From his earliest music, he was talking about social change and telling people not to be complacent. He really wanted to wake people up. He wanted to make sure they were active."

Referring to his charity Love 4 One Another, for which she worked before meeting the legend, Manuela added: "They were doing projects ranging from building community gardens to helping domestic shelters. I wasn't aware at the time, but when Prince would visit different cities for a concert, he would have work going on to complement the places he visited."

"He would see a family on TV that was having trouble - they didn't have health insurance and had trouble meeting the needs of a sick child - and instead of saying, 'Wow, that's really sad,' he would leave a note on my desk saying, 'Call this TV station and find out where these people are so we can help them.' It was ongoing."

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Watch Prince in action here: