| Revision as of 02:22, 25 July 2006 editLayla12275 (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users649 edits The title is absolutely correct, but should precede her name as on her husband's page. Titles aren't treated like last names; they don't follow commas in that way.← Previous edit |
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{{otheruses4|2=the daughter of Linda Eastman, adopted by Paul McCartney|1=Heather (nee Mills) McCartney, the wife of Paul McCartney|3=Heather McCartney}} |
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'''Lady Heather McCartney''' (born ] ] in ], ], ]), usually known as '''Heather Mills''' or '''Heather Mills McCartney''', is a campaigner on behalf of several causes, including amputees, the curtailment of ]s and animal rights. A few months after she was born, she moved to ], then in ]. Her early career was as a glamour ]. She is the estranged wife of the former ] ]; the couple announced their separation in May ]. Just prior to Sir Paul's 64th birthday, it was announced that the couple would be divorcing. |
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==Early career== |
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Her early life was turbluent. Her mother left home when she was nine, leaving Heather and her siblings in the care of an abusive father. |
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When her father went to prison, Heather moved to London to live with her mother. As a teenager she ran away from home and found herself homeless. After holding a series of menial jobs, She put her entrepreneurial skills to work and successfully formed and sold businesses and began a career in modelling. |
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In 1988, while aged nineteen, she took part in a photoshoot with a male model with whom she performed simulated sexual acts. The photos were published in a book entitled ''Die Freuden der Liebe'' ''(The Joys of Love)''. . An American edition was published in the same year with the title ''Sex Games''. The male model has stated the book project was presented to him as a sex manual, not pornography. |
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In 1990, she moved to what was then northern Yugoslavia (now ]), to recover from an ]. She arrived to witness the unfolding civil war first-hand. Over the following two years, she modelled to raise funds for refugees of the war, commuting between ], ], ] and the UK and working with government agencies to establish refugee crisis centers, hospitals and housing for the homeless. |
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==Accident and leg amputation== |
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In August ], she was hit by a police ] while crossing the road near ]'s ]; her injuries included crushed ribs and a punctured lung. She needed a metal plate put into her pelvis and also the ] of her left leg below the knee . Mills McCartney has a prosthetic leg, notably taking it off and showing it to USA talk show host ] during his interview with her in October 2002. She later sold her story of recovery following the accident to a British ], with details of how she and her boyfriend made love in her hospital bed. |
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Following the accident she arranged for unwanted prostheses to be sent from the United Kingdom to the war-torn former ]. |
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== Marriage to Paul McCartney == |
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Heather Mills married Sir Paul McCartney on ] ], four years after his first wife ] died of ]. Their wedding was an elaborate ceremony at Castle Leslie (once home of ]) in the village of Glaslough in rural ]. |
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As a result of this marriage, Mills McCartney is stepmother to Sir Paul's children from his marriage to Linda: ceramics designer ], photographer ], top fashion designer ], and musician and sculptor ]. |
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On ] ], Mills McCartney gave birth to the couple's only child together, a daughter, Beatrice Milly McCartney. The baby was named after Heather's late mother Beatrice and Sir Paul's Aunt Milly. On ] 2006 it was officially announced via the couple's websites that she was to separate from her husband. Media speculation in the weeks prior to this had been intense. In the London newspaper the '']'' on ] 2006, Mills McCartney told of the hurt she felt over claims she'd only married Sir Paul for his money, and she said "I am no gold digger" and that the allegations were "worse than losing my leg." '']'' was one of a number of British newspapers to suggest that if the couple did eventually divorce, it could lead to the UK's biggest ever divorce settlement, some estimating she could receive £200 million (a quarter of Paul McCartney's wealth). |
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==Activism and awards== |
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Mills McCartney is an activist for several causes, particularly against the use of landmines, for which she received the inaugural ] Children in Need Award. In 2004 the Open University awarded her with a honorary doctorate. The ] honored Heather with the 2004 Human Security Award and created the Heather Mills McCartney Fellowship in Human Security, to support graduate students conducting research on pressing human security issues. |
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=== Work for the UN=== |
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She is currently a ] for the United Nations Association. |
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=== Work for amputees === |
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In addition to promoting distribution of prostheses worldwide, she has been involved with the development of the "Heather Mills McCartney Cosmesis" 'to give amputees in America a chance to wear a Dorset Orthopaedic cosmesis without the need to visit us here in the UK'. |
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=== Work against the seal hunt === |
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In March 2006, Heather Mills McCartney and her husband ventured to eastern Canada to bring attention to the country's annual ]. Sponsored by the ], they claimed the hunt was inhumane and called on the Canadian government to put it to an end. Their arrival on the floes sparked much attention in ] where 90% of the sealers live, and where the hunt is of cultural and economic significance. Due to the intense media attention, the couple debated with ] premier ] on '']''. |
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=== Work against fur trade === |
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Heather Mills McCartney also campaigns against the trade in dog fur (which is often passed off as fur from other animals), and particularly the live skinning of dogs. |
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She posed with her dog, in an Anti-Fur ad for ]'s "If you wouldn't wear your dog, please don't wear fur" campaign . |
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=== Work against landmines === |
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Sir Paul and Mills McCartney are both patrons of ], and proceeds from her updated autobiography, ''A Single Step'', will be donated to the cause. |
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==Criticisms== |
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{{unreferenced}} |
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Heather Mills McCartney has been written about in several publications for alleged embellishments to her life story. For example, the satirical magazine ] alleged that before she was famous in her own right, Mills McCartney pretended for some time to be a newspaper journalist - there is a journalist called Heather Mills; it also published a spoof diary entry from her containing many fictional achievements. |
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Articles have also questioned the effectiveness of her charitable work in the Balkans, and she has also come under criticism from disabled people claiming she presumes to speak on their behalf. |
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On occasion Sir Paul has defended Mills McCartney against criticism, via her website or his own. |
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In June 2006 it was reported that Mills McCartney had taken part in what could be considered to be pornographic photoshoots in her teens and early twenties. The News of the World alleged that she was involved in prostitution during that period of her life . Mills McCartney strongly denied the allegations. The ] news agency quoted Mills McCartney's lawyers on Tuesday 13 June who issued a statement saying. "Heather is very distressed by this article... she has suffered weight loss, anxiety and sleeping problems as a result of the stress and anxiety of the break-up of her marriage." The statement was made by Stephen Taylor from ] based solicitors Coyle White Devine . Her lawyers also issued a warning that "She will defer issue of legal proceedings until the arrangements in relation to the divorce are concluded but intends to sue at that stage all parties (including individuals) who are intent on damaging her reputation". |
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==Trivia== |
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*At 14, she was homeless and lived under a bridge in London. For four months, before moving in with friends, she stole food and clothes to survive. She also spent time with a carnival. |
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*In early 1989, after becoming more established as a model, she and her mother reconciled. Then her mother went in for minor surgery and never returned; a blood clot moved into her lungs and heart, and she died. |
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*While in hospital, she let reporters into her hospital room and sold her story to the highest bidder. During the next month, she earned about $250,000. |
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* While she was engaged to be married to Chris Terrill, a film maker, she met Sir Paul and abandoned her fiancé only days before the wedding . After a period of going out with each other, in March 2000 Mills and Sir Paul announced they were in love. It is not known if she bothered to tell him about her change of plans for her earlier marriage. He eventually proposed with a diamond and sapphire ring he had purchased in India. . |
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*Mills McCartney was a journalist for the ], for which she wrote an on-going column.{{fact}} |
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==External links== |
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* {{imdb name|id=1457728|name=Heather Mills}} |
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==Bibliography== |
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* ''A Single Step'' (ISBN 0446531650) |
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* ''Life Balance - the Essential Keys to a Lifetime of Well Being'' (ISBN 9780718146672 ) |
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==Sources== |
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