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 doubt their child has ever had to fly economy in her life. Mum had £24m, all school fees paid, a nanny and £35k per year. If you have to fly economy on that then you are seriously shit with money

I do remember her and what sorry story their marriage breakdown and divorce was. I always wondered why the press was so ruthlessly vitriolic towards her.

@EYProvider

My own view is that no woman has ever held a candle to John Lennon and he’s tormented by that. I’m sure it’s not easy competing with the ghost of John, no matter how much money he’s got.

Really?

Are you on the sauce tonight perchance?

There was also that car crash interview on GMTV when she started coming out with very unbelievable statements against Paul. I can't remember what they were, but she was an absolute fantasist.

I cannot stand Paul McCartney, I think he's one of the biggest wankers ever, so I thought it was quite amusing really. He married her about 5 mins after Linda died, so the charitable part of me thinks he must have been vulnerable, but the mean side of me thinks he was a vain, old fool.

I’ve just watched the Get Back documentary, Elvish. I saw the original Let It Be, as well.

He’s a complete mess in it, obviously on the brink of a nervous breakdown, which he had a few months after. He carries on pulling songs out of the air, of course, because not only is he a genius, he has the strongest work ethic of the four of them. But he’s losing his creative partner and it’s killing him.

Four years is not 5 mins. What a nasty, spiteful post.

I don’t understand why people get so much pleasure out of sticking the boot in to Paul McCartney. He’s fundamentally a decent man who has never done anything to deserve the hate he gets on here.

@EYProvider

I’ve just watched the Get Back documentary, Elvish. I saw the original Let It Be, as well.

He’s a complete mess in it, obviously on the brink of a nervous breakdown, which he had a few months after. He carries on pulling songs out of the air, of course, because not only is he a genius, he has the strongest work ethic of the four of them. But he’s losing his creative partner and it’s killing him.

Yes completely agree. I don’t think he had a nervous breakdown though. He got married in March and had a child in August. He was undoubtedly very depressed when John decided to leave and was in a bad way for some time. The drinking and depression really kicked in when the Beatles split and he and Heather moved to Scotland. What struck me about the documentary is how everything is coming from him. All the ideas, all the drive. All the staff are looking to him for decisions. He was cracking up under the strain. Lennon is playing around on the fringes or turning up late. He just doesn’t seem to care much. It was an eye opener. Every single song more or less was McCartneys. The third episode shows them coming together more . Once they do the roof top performance they just light up and it all goes. So sad that that was the last time. I found it very affecting.

All gels.

@EYProvider

I don’t understand why people get so much pleasure out of sticking the boot in to Paul McCartney. He’s fundamentally a decent man who has never done anything to deserve the hate he gets on here.

Yes I don’t understand it either.

I meant when he and Linda moved to Scotland.

Yes, but this was the start of his breakdown, Elvish.

You know, with any artist, you’re going to find the truth buried in the art they’re producing. The stuff he was he was writing - ‘I‘ll never do you no harm’, ‘I’ll never let you down’, ‘The wild and windy night that the tears washed away’ - he was pleading with John not to leave him and he wasn’t even being subtle about it.

Meanwhile, John wanted a reaction from him, but he ended up overplaying his hand and losing him.

And yes, there is no doubt, he was the powerhouse of the Beatles, even though John was also a genius. Together they were a miracle - astonishing.

You could be right. I find it all fascinating.

It’s the most fascinating story in the world. Biblical from start to end.

You read comments on here from people who think it’s clever to say the Beatles are overrated. They don’t know the first thing about them obviously.

The break up of the Beatles was really the break up of John and Paul, and it’s now pretty much accepted by the mainstream that John was in love with Paul. It only makes sense when you examine it in that context.

My DD, through her job at the time, used to meet Paul McCartney quite a lot. It was because she worked for a close member of his family.

I remember her texting me from the Hamptons, to say she was having coffee with Paul. Just prior to her texting me, I texted her about my new handbag and that got more reaction from her about my new handbag despite me saying "get a photo!!"

I never thought Heather or Paul came across brilliantly in the press, but we all know that the media love to tell their own narrative.

Regardless of how nice or not Heather might be (who knows?), you can't argue that she's done an awful lot for amputees abroad - people never really talk about that. Her charitable work has been substantial and deserves more recognition.

A lot of people when faced with a life-changing injury through no fault of their own would have reacted in a far less positive way. She's helped a lot of people.

She seemed like the brains of the couple — he was amiably dopey to talk to.

Dope being the operative if what I've heard is true.

I don’t agree that John was in love with Paul at all. I think the two of them formed a very close enmeshed bond. They grew up together. They knew each other inside out, and had been through many formative experiences . Paul met John when he was grieving for his mother, and the relationship they had probably replaced a need he had at that time. It’s possible he didn’t grieve properly and so when he lost John those issues came to the forefront.
One of them had to break the spell. John found his needs were met by Yoko who was a substitute mother figure in some respects. They both had a mother wound .
It was a terrible rending thing for Paul to lose John. He lost so much. On top of the loss of his friendship was the loss of the creative partnership which he knew could never be replaced. John had outgrown the Beatles and needed something else.
I find it reduces the complexity of their relationship down when people claim there was a sexual element. I don’t believe that was the case at all. A deep attachment like that transcends sexual attraction and can often be more powerful.

I agree with the rest of your post though. I’ve been fascinated by the Beatles since I was 14. I found the documentary riveting although it was very long. I thought about starting a thread on it but assumed no one would be interested.

Heather Mills had no manners and a very inflated opinion of herself and full of a sense of entitlement.
I will just say I used to work in the Court Service................

@HazelBite - Ohhh!!!!! Did you see the water chuck?!!

Does make me wonder why some famous people cannot work out the "gold diggers" from the real MA coy.

I think they had a very complex relationship, as most creative partners do. I also think there is no doubt that John was in love with Paul. He was besotted with him until his dying day. And it’s not just Yoko who has said so, Harry Nilsson pretty much spelt it out.

I do agree they bonded over the deaths of their mothers, but it was obviously more than that. Paul has done a good job of pretending to be ordinary through the years. Of course, he’s far from ordinary, and so was John; the miracle was that they found each other and saw themselves reflected back. In some ways, they were the same person, even though in other ways they were the opposite.

Not much point starting a conversation about the Beatles on Mumsnet. Too many people think they are overrated, except for George, who has some street cred among the enlightened.

[quote julieca]@TheElvishQueen 5-year-olds don't know. 9 or 10-year-olds certainly do know and know the difference.
When your dad is billionaire then you would expect to live differently to your average child and teenager. The divorce settlement was a disgrace.[/quote]
It was a disgrace 24 million for four years of marriage shows what a terrible deal the most successful people in a relationship get in divorce. Marriage really is a mugs game for successful people. I was always shocked by heather. She seemed out to me for what she could get from that marriage and Bea didn't need to fly first class, I certainly don't expect to live the lifestyle of my parents just because they can afford it.

That's said I blame Paul for getting married. He knows the rules in the UK. I doubt he needed marriage.

I have just watched the Star Stories clip on YouTube. I'd forgotten just how hilarious they were.