Heather Mills
- Profession: Gold digger
- Place/Date of Birth: Aldershot, Hampshire, 12 January 2021
- Associated with: Paul McCartney
Heather, 39, said she promised him she would "walk away with nothing" in a "very gentle and quick divorce" if he did that, but she said he "did nothing".
In an emotional interview with the NBC programme, the former model said: "All I can say is when we first split, I said to Paul ’I’m going to be crucified. You know why we split. You know the truth. They don’t need to know the details, but you need to stand up and say: I’m responsible for the breakdown of this marriage.
"’If you say that, I’ll walk away with nothing, and we’ll do a very gentle and quick divorce.’ And he promised he’d do that. I have evidence of that. And he did nothing."
She went on: "I fell in love with a man, not a Beatle. I fell in love with someone that chased me for three months, that people forget, that wooed me, that was a broken man when I met him."
Have your say: The Mills Outburst
Is it a McCann? Is it Diana? No, it’s Heather Mills! ... click here
Heather compares herself to Diana - Nov 1 2007
Heather Mills McCartney has claimed she was close to suicide, compared herself to Princess Diana and the McCanns, and accused Sir Paul McCartney of stalling on their divorce settlement in dramatic TV interviews.
The estranged wife of Sir Paul, 65, pledged to campaign to change the press laws, and said she had received death threats and wondered whether she might be "revered" like Linda McCartney if the "death threats came true".
Heather, 39, choked back tears and put her head in her hands while attacking the media for subjecting her to the same treatment as Diana, Princess of Wales.
The former model told ITV shows GMTV and This Morning she was campaigning to change media legislation and that she had launched a petition to the European Parliament on the issue.
She said of the press: "Look what they’re doing to the McCanns. The woman has lost, and the poor father, have lost their daughter. What are we doing as a nation?
"What are we doing persecuting a woman that is devastated behind closed doors and trying to hold it together, as I have for 18 months.
"What did the paparazzi do to Diana? They chased her and they killed her.
And she appeared to blame the former Beatle for the fact that her divorce has not yet been settled.
She told This Morning: "If it was down to me, it (the divorce) would happen immediately. But it’s not down to me, so I think you should ask Paul."
Have your say: The Mills Outburst
Is it a McCann? Is it Diana? No, it’s Heather Mills! ... click here
Heather breaks down on TV - Oct 31 2007
Heather Mills McCartney has accused a "certain corner" of feeding spin to the media to smear her.
Sir Paul McCartney’s estranged wife, who is locked in divorce negotiations with her husband, also launched a fierce attack on the media for "pushing her to the edge" and called on the public to stop buying tabloid newspapers.
In an interview with GMTV, she compared the media’s treatment of her to that of Kate McCann and Princess Diana, and said she had received death threats and been "close to suicide".
At one point she appeared to break down, later apologising for becoming upset and saying: "What are we doing as a nation buying these newspapers?
"We need to force a change as a responsible nation."
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Heather Mills has definitely got one hell of a story, she was born in 1968, her mother left the family home when she nine, leaving Heather to care for her siblings under the watchful eye of an abusive father. Heather ran away from home at thirteen and found herself homeless, living under Waterloo arches for four months.
She was eventually "discovered" and started modelling, it wasn’t long after that at the age of 22, that she moved to Northern Yugoslavia, now Slovenia, for a holiday and eventually ended up moving there to build a new life and become a ski instructor. Whilst out there she witnessed the outbreak of civil war and the effect it had on many of her friends. On her return to England she set up a refugee crisis centre, funded by the modelling work that she was still doing, she continued her charity work over the next two years when tragedy struck, on a visit to the UK.
In August 1993, Heather was involved in a road accident with a police motorcycle. Her injuries included crushed ribs, a punctured lung, and multiple fractures of the pelvis and the loss of her left leg below the knee. Realising her modelling career would now possibly be over, she summoned the press into her hospital room and sold her story.
Through the adjustment of returning to ’normal’ life with one leg, Heather found a practical problem that she felt she could solve. Her residual limb, or stump as she prefers to call it, was fitted with an artificial limb. But due to the nature of the wound changing in shape and size, the prosthetic leg had to be continually replaced, whilst the old leg would be discarded. Heather realised that if the redundant prosthesis would never find another use, there must be literally thousands out there just waiting for a new home. With her experiences in the former Yugoslavia, Heather knew that these redundant limbs would be more than welcome in areas such as the Former Yugoslavia.
Heather instigated a nation-wide appeal for the donation of unwanted prostheses, and then employed the services of the inmates at Brixton prison to dismantle the limbs and make them ready for transport. October 1994, just a year after her accident, the first convoy of artificial limbs and medical equipment left for Zargreb. Arriving at the Institute of Prosthetics in Zargreb the limbs were now ready to be fitted. Over 22,000 amputees and victims of land-mine explosions have been helped since the first Convoy left the U.K.
It was not long after that at the young age of 25 that Heather wrote her biography, whilst most 25 year olds could hardly fill a chapter, Heather had a real story to tell. ’Out on a Limb’ landed straight onto The Times’ best-seller list as well as appearing in the 1997 Reader’s Digest Best non-fiction compilation. The proceeds from the book go to raising money for child amputee war victim’s world-wide (although the most publicised are in the Former Yugoslavia). All Heather’s charity work has funded from her own pocket.
Heather has been given many accolades and awards for her work for charity. Former Prime Minister John Major presented her with the Gold Award for Outstanding Achievement; The Times presented her with their Human Achievement Award, and the British Chamber of Commerce not only named her Outstanding Young Person of the Year, but also named an award after her - the Heather Mills Award. If this was not enough, in 1996 she received a nomination for The Nobel Prize and has since received the 1999 "People of the Year Award", The "Cosmopolitan Woman of Achievement 2000 Award", The "Pantene Spirit of Beauty Award" and the "Woman of the Year" by the Blue Drop Group in Sicily as well as lots more.
Heather collected the "REDBROOK Mother & Shakers Award", presented by Hillary Clinton, and she received the Victory Award hosted by the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington DC.
If that was not enough, Heather has also done a lot of TV work presenting for programmes such as That’s Esther.
In her personal life, she found temporary happiness with ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney. Despite some rather obvious objections from Paul’s daughter Stella, the couple married in 2002 and had a daughter together.
In 2006 both Paul and Heather made a joint statement confirming their separation, after Paul McCartney filed for divorce, citing ‘unreasonable behaviour’. What has followed has been a media storm, with Heather at the heart of the controversy.
The main allegations is that she merely married Sir Paul for his money and fame, with British papers suggesting that this could be the biggest divorce settlement ever witnessed. Heather has always denied the allegation of being a ‘gold digger’, claiming that the separation and process of divorce is ‘worse than losing my leg’.
Alongside her threat to sue national papers over ‘false, damaging and immensely upsetting’ reports about the divorce, it has also been reported that Heather has received death threats since splitting with her husband.
In January 2003, a settlement was announced between the two parties, believed to amount to £32 million, plus a gagging order.
November 2007