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Revision as of 23:57, 10 June 2006 by ArglebargleIV (talk | contribs) (Revert to revision 57617095 using popups)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Heather, Lady McCartney (born January 12, 1968 in Washington, Sunderland, England), usually known as Heather Mills or Heather Mills McCartney, is a campaigner on behalf of several causes, including amputees and the curtailment of land mines and animal rights. She is a former model and the wife of former-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney; the couple announced their separation in May 2006.
Early career
Her personal life prior to her marriage to Paul McCartney was fairly colourful: homelessness, traveling abroad to perform in pornographic materials, one previous marriage (to computer sales director Alfie Karmal), two ectopic pregnancies and two fiancés.
She admitted that in 1988 she performed explicit sexual acts on camera, and the pictures were published in a German hardcore pornographic book . When the media reported on the photos in 2006, her representatives insisted that the book was not pornography because it was a sexual advice manual, but the pictures are not accompanied by any words . Former friends have been quoted saying that she had bragged about the book and that during this period in her life she travelled abroad frequently to model for pornographic materials that she thought would not be seen in England . Similar rumours have circulated at different times that she had been an international prostitute who serviced a wealthy middle eastern clientelle, including arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, all of which she continues vehemently to deny .
In 1990, she moved to what was then northern Yugoslavia (now Slovenia), where she saw the unfolding civil war first-hand. Over the following two years she modelled to raise funds for refugees of the war, and commuted between Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and England.
Accident and leg amputation
In August 1993, she was hit by a police motorcycle while crossing the road near London's Kensington Palace; her injuries included crushed ribs, a punctured lung, a metal plate needing to be put in her pelvis and the amputation of her left leg below the knee. Mills has a prosthetic leg, notably taking it off and showing it to U.S. talk show host Larry King during his interview with her in October, 2002. She later sold her story of recovery following the accident to a British tabloid, with details of how she and her boyfriend made love in her hospital bed.
Following the accident she arranged for unwanted prostheses to be sent from the United Kingdom to the war-torn former Yugoslavia.
Marriage to Paul McCartney
Heather Mills married Paul McCartney on 11 June 2002, four years after his first wife Linda McCartney died of cancer. Their wedding was an elaborate ceremony at Castle Leslie (once home of Shane Leslie) in the village of Glaslough in rural Ireland. On 17 May 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. She has a new book, Life Balance which was published on 25 May 2006 about health, happiness and 'unlocking the inner you'. In the London newspaper the Evening Standard on 18 May 2006, Mills-McCartney told of the hurt she felt over claims she'd only married Sir Paul for his money, she said 'I am no gold digger' and that the allegations were worse than 'losing my leg'. The Daily Telegraph 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 (one-quarter of Paul McCartney's wealth). Other estimates have suggested she will receive in the range of £25 million.
Activism
Mills is an activist for several causes.
Work for the UN
She is currently a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Association.
Work for amputees
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'.
Work against the seal hunt
In March 2006, Heather Mills McCartney and her husband Paul McCartney ventured to Eastern Canada to bring attention to the country's annual seal hunt. Sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States, they claimed the hunt to be inhumane and called on the Canadian Government to put it to an end. Their arrival on the floes sparked much attention in Newfoundland and Labrador 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 Newfoundland's premier Danny Williams on Larry King Live.
Work against landmines
Heather and Paul McCartney are both patrons of Adopt-A-Minefield, and proceeds from her updated autobiography, A Single Step, will be donated to the cause.
Criticisms
Heather Mills McCartney has been criticised in several publications for alleged embellishments to her life story. For example, Private Eye alleged that before she was famous in her own right, Heather Mills pretended for some time to be a newspaper journalist (as there is a journalist of the same name); the magazine also published a spoof diary entry from her containing many fictional achievements.
Articles have also questioned the effectiveness of her charitable work in the Balkans, and she has also come under criticism from disabled people for presuming to speak on their behalf.
On occasion Paul McCartney has defended Heather Mills McCartney against criticism, via her website or his own.
Trivia
In 2005, Heather Mills McCartney appeared on the daytime soap opera Days Of Our Lives in a cameo role that lasted a few days. She played herself, consoling the major character of the time, Philip Kiriakis, who had just lost a portion of his leg in combat in Iraq.
External links
Bibliography
- A Single Step (ISBN 0446531650)
- Life Balance - the Essential Keys to a Lifetime of Well Being (ISBN 9780718146672 )