Do you remember Heather Mills?

[LucilleBluth]

I have been watching the Beatles documentary and got to thinking about her.

She was in the papers constantly in the 2000s, I remember her being painted as an absolute con artist witch. I googled a few articles about her from the time of the divorce. They are brutal in the misogynistic tone, she’s labelled as a slag, a goer, ex prostitute, you name it.

I don’t think papers write about women in such hash terms anymore. Maybe she was a bit of a twat, whoever married Saint Paul would have suffered at that time I think.

I suppose by AIBU is are the press less misogynistic.

I imagine the reasons she miscarried might have had something to do with the amount of drugs they were both taking.

@Ciaram55

John treated Cynthia Lennon terribly. She always struggled to get maintenance for Julian, even told she had to go through Yoko as she was in charge of his finances. . Poor Julian, he even got promised (by Yoko) that he could pick one of John's guitars, but then wouldn't allow him the one he really wanted, as she wanted it for her own son. I could never understand the meanness. John left millions, why wasn't Julian better provided for.

I agree, I think he treated them both shamefully. He was disparaging about Julian because he was conceived 'out of a bottle of whisky'. He then married Cynthia because she was pregnant. He doesn't seem to have cared much about her or their son.

@TheElvishQueen

I imagine the reasons she miscarried might have had something to do with the amount of drugs they were both taking.

They were very into the heroin at the time.

Have you ever seen her IRL? I've met her. She's absolutely tiny. Like a sparrow. Completely bonkers but not evil.

@EYProvider

I know she was having an affair with two men, one of whom ended up in John’s will having already been named in another will of a rich heiress who ended up dead in mysterious circumstances.

How do you know that? You may have read gossip, but that's not the same thing. If one of the men was in John's will, he must have been fond of him. I wouldn't judge her for having affairs, John himself was not faithful to her.

Can't think of her without thinking of my all time favourite John McEnroe episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
PmC looks like his own mother now. Can remember him being quite horrid to Linda on camera when she was being interviewed at home about her veggie food, not wanting to share the limelight.

I've always thought all the preaching about love and peace was a bit hypocritical since John didn't treat his own son at all well, or his ex wife, I have already said. Yoko was not welcoming or loving to Julian either . In their personal relationships, there wasn't much love and forgiveness at all. They were both pretty selfish people.

Well, the source for that story - that he kicked her in the stomach while she was pregnant and she had a miscarriage shortly after - was Albert Goldman.

Now, Goldman was Yoko’s biggest detractor. As much as he had it in for John, he went after her with both barrels. So, you either believe Goldman or not, but if you are going to accept that events like this happened, you also have to look at the stuff he uncovered about Yoko - including her neglect/abuse of her own child, who she basically abandoned to stalk John Lennon.

For the record, I believe Goldman. John was abusive and he was a very complex and damaged person. I don’t know whether he caused her to have a miscarriage. She was zonked out on heroin at the time so she was doing a lot of damage to herself. She had also had something like seven previous abortions, so it was difficult for her to carry a baby to term.

But Yoko was no victim and he was.

@julieca

Yes Julian was treated terribly.

I also am perplexed that a woman is being seen as off for attempting suicide. Shows stigma around mental health issues is alive and well.

I didn't mean it that way. I meant she was a damaged person, as John was.

@EYProvider

Well, the source for that story - that he kicked her in the stomach while she was pregnant and she had a miscarriage shortly after - was Albert Goldman.

Now, Goldman was Yoko’s biggest detractor. As much as he had it in for John, he went after her with both barrels. So, you either believe Goldman or not, but if you are going to accept that events like this happened, you also have to look at the stuff he uncovered about Yoko - including her neglect/abuse of her own child, who she basically abandoned to stalk John Lennon.

For the record, I believe Goldman. John was abusive and he was a very complex and damaged person. I don’t know whether he caused her to have a miscarriage. She was zonked out on heroin at the time so she was doing a lot of damage to herself. She had also had something like seven previous abortions, so it was difficult for her to carry a baby to term.

But Yoko was no victim and he was.

Two people off their heads on drugs and drink, it wouldn't surprise me. I do however believe he loved her very much.

Sam Green was not in John’s will accidentally, Elvish, anymore than he was in Barbara Baekeland’s will accidentally:

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1034556/I-wasnt-blame-heiress-murder-says-art-expert-depicted-screen-incest-threesome.html

I mean, what are the odds?

Yoko and John Lennon’s relationship was very dysfunctional on both sides, I think. I’m not sure you could put a fag paper between them really in that relationship. JL was clearly very damaged by his childhood (understandably, it was horrible) but I think that YO had quite a horrible childhood too (in a different way). From what I’ve read she also had a very weird way in relationships of feeling she had to get pregnant to “own” the man too (and this resulted in quite a few abortions) but she suffered numerous losses with JL and their fertility struggles made them both very depressed and unhappy. They tried on and off for Sean for more than eight years and suffered at least four miscarriages. It was the second one I think that lead to their using heroin. Those issues and the heavy drug use can’t have made anyone behave as their best self.

That said, John was clearly a weak and depressive character who was easily led and Yoko was obviously more dominant. And John absolutely treated Cynthia and Julian terribly and Yoko carried on that legacy. I believe it took Julian more than 15yrs to get what was rightfully his from his fathers estate and even then it was chicken feed in the grand scheme of the billion dollar industry that the Lennon name had become. Cynthia was never wealthy and had to work all her life and rely on Julian once he was successful in order to live. She got no maintenance despite having put her own career on hold to have Julian and be John’s wife (she was doing teacher training when she got pregnant) and a lengthy marriage. She also only got quite a small settlement when you consider John’s wealth by the time or the divorce, that I believe she brought a very average 3 bed house with. This compared to Maureen Starkey, first wife of Ringo, who had a huge settlement, sizeable maintenance and was well looked after.

I think there’s a hope and feeling amongst Beatles fans that Sean Lennon is a much nicer man than either of his parents and as the soul inheritor of the Lennon/Ono estate he might quietly better distribute the wealth to his brother. He and Julian seem to have a very genuine, respectful relationship and hopefully he sees how poorly Julian was treated and will redress that balance.

@YokoOnosHat

Yoko and John Lennon’s relationship was very dysfunctional on both sides, I think. I’m not sure you could put a fag paper between them really in that relationship. JL was clearly very damaged by his childhood (understandably, it was horrible) but I think that YO had quite a horrible childhood too (in a different way). From what I’ve read she also had a very weird way in relationships of feeling she had to get pregnant to “own” the man too (and this resulted in quite a few abortions) but she suffered numerous losses with JL and their fertility struggles made them both very depressed and unhappy. They tried on and off for Sean for more than eight years and suffered at least four miscarriages. It was the second one I think that lead to their using heroin. Those issues and the heavy drug use can’t have made anyone behave as their best self.

That said, John was clearly a weak and depressive character who was easily led and Yoko was obviously more dominant. And John absolutely treated Cynthia and Julian terribly and Yoko carried on that legacy. I believe it took Julian more than 15yrs to get what was rightfully his from his fathers estate and even then it was chicken feed in the grand scheme of the billion dollar industry that the Lennon name had become. Cynthia was never wealthy and had to work all her life and rely on Julian once he was successful in order to live. She got no maintenance despite having put her own career on hold to have Julian and be John’s wife (she was doing teacher training when she got pregnant) and a lengthy marriage. She also only got quite a small settlement when you consider John’s wealth by the time or the divorce, that I believe she brought a very average 3 bed house with. This compared to Maureen Starkey, first wife of Ringo, who had a huge settlement, sizeable maintenance and was well looked after.

I think there’s a hope and feeling amongst Beatles fans that Sean Lennon is a much nicer man than either of his parents and as the soul inheritor of the Lennon/Ono estate he might quietly better distribute the wealth to his brother. He and Julian seem to have a very genuine, respectful relationship and hopefully he sees how poorly Julian was treated and will redress that balance.

Yes, I was wondering that too. Will Sean see his half brother right when Yoko dies. It's really lovely to see their connection now. Yoko apparently has an illness that means she is wheelchair bound now and she has round the clock carers.

@EYProvider

Sam Green was not in John’s will accidentally, Elvish, anymore than he was in Barbara Baekeland’s will accidentally:

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1034556/I-wasnt-blame-heiress-murder-says-art-expert-depicted-screen-incest-threesome.html

I mean, what are the odds?

Of course it wasn't accidental. However John decided he should be there, so that was John's choice, not Yoko's. (We would hope).

You can’t be that naive, Elvish. No one can be that naive.

As well as misogyny there's a fair bit of racism around the narrative that poor John Lennon was kept under the control of this evil Asian temptress. Remember what was going on at this time, Vietnam and it wasn't long after the US were at war with Japan. The papers were vile about Yoko's ethnicity at the time. She may not be all sweetness and light but she did not deserve the abuse she got. A white American woman would not have got the same treatment.
Another parallel with MM and Harry for you.

@EYProvider

You can’t be that naive, Elvish. No one can be that naive.

What do you mean? Do you think Yoko held a gun to his head whilst he was writing his will?

Yoko has certainly liked to promote that narrative over the years, @HousethatChunkbuilt.

I bet she can’t believe her luck that the political climate has changed so radically in her favour that she’s now held up as some sort of poster child of oppressed womanhood. It’s what she’s always wanted. In fact, go back far enough and you’ll probably find she started the movement.

It doesn’t make it true. She may have been given a tough time by the British press, but the idea that she was some sort of victim is absurd. Yoko is a BILLIONAIRE; she was BORN into immense privilege. She is not a victim, and the fact that she was once called ‘Jap’ by the British press does not absolve her of the damage she has done to other people or the hurt she has caused. That’s on her, regardless of her gender or ethnicity.

He didn’t write his will, Elvish. She did.

He had already given her a power of attorney by then, but he was barely functional.

@EYProvider

He didn’t write his will, Elvish. She did.

He had already given her a power of attorney by then, but he was barely functional.

How do you know this? He was making a comeback at the time of his death. He wasn’t ‘barely functional’. I assume in the US there have to be witnesses to the will and a legal process? You don’t get power of attorney for someone who is in possession of his faculties. I’m sorry but you sound delusional.

Where are you getting your information from?

I think John did escape Yoko didn't he? With May Pang?

Yoko's account of this is that she set John and May up together (May was one of her staff) because she and John needed break from each other after being virtually inseparable for several years.

Yes that’s what happened. Yoko managed the whole thing. John did what he was told.

The will is a matter of public record - it’s on the internet. He absolutely did give her a power of attorney - he did it voluntarily and spoke about it quite openly in interviews. Whether he actually felt that he had a choice in the matter (surrounded as he was by dubious characters who worked for her) is up for debate.

Like most people who are seriously mentally ill and drug addled, he was functional some of the time. He got himself together to some extent towards the end - working gave him a reason to get up, I suppose. Most of the time from 1975-80, he was in a depressed drug haze.

@Honeyroar

I was an air stewardess for years. She was a passenger on one of my flights. I inwardly cringed when she walked on and sat in the bit I was working in. I was expecting a diva. But she was really down to Earth and polite, even when the airline had not loaded her preordered vegan meal. It was at the time that she was training for the Winter Olympics and I had a chat with her about that. She completely changed my (media formed) opinion of her.

And let’s face it, P Mc was an idiot to rush into another marriage so quickly.

You do know whe wasn't in the British team? That she threatened and verbally abused a Paralympic offical for doing their job and actually used that wel kown pharse "Don't you know who I am?" whilst doing so.

The problem was that Mills had changed her prosthesis since her equipoment had been ratified for competition, When the offical queried the new prosthetic Mills and her coach went all out on the "they've got a vendetta, they hate me" They being anyone and everyone who questioned her.

It wasn't even as though her new prosthetic would definitely have been banned. The official was just checking it was going through the right channels to be approved. Just like everyone elses equipment changes would.

As with many things she said and did along her various career trajectories, she could be extremely self sabotaging.

All I know is in the UK power of attorney does not kick in unless a person is considered to be incapacitated. He wasn’t. Not at all. There would have had to be doctors certifying that he was incapacitated for her to take over all his affairs before his death. You are talking nonsense.
I have POA for my elderly mother. I can’t take decisions for her unless she is considered beyond the point where she can make them herself. A doctor needs to decide this independently.
It is usual for husbands and wives to appoint each other power of attorney in the case that they end up dead, in a coma or too ill to speak or think rationally. This is perfectly normal.