Heather Mills
- Profession: Gold digger
- Place/Date of Birth: Aldershot, Hampshire, 12 January 2021
- Associated with: Paul McCartney
The alleged incident occurred hours after both Heather and her estranged husband Sir Paul McCartney attended their daughter Beatrice’s third birthday party at an activity centre in Hastings.
The photographer, who does not wish to be identified, said: "I was driving home from a friend’s house when I spotted Heather’s Mercedes parked on double yellow lines outside her sister’s flat. I thought I might as well sit there and get a picture.
"Heather finally emerged with her sister and they had a hug - it was a real moment. As I approached them I said ’sorry to disturb you I’m just getting a picture’.
"Heather’s going ’it’s my daughter’s birthday today and you lot have brought me and her to tears’. The sister’s saying ’five months this has been going on...’ I took a few pictures of her as she was screaming at me and it tipped her over the edge and she started belting and slapping my arm, she must have done it a good 20-30 times. She just grabbed the camera and took off. Heather said ’give it back, give it back’ and then she drove off. They were both in tears."
Sussex Police confirmed a complaint had been made by the photographer and that officers had retrieved the camera from an address in King’s Gardens.
Phil Hall, spokesman for Ms Mills McCartney, said: "They’re being constantly harassed by photographers and it’s obviously wound them up."
Heather to sue - Oct 25 2006
Heather Mills McCartney is to sue two newspapers over "false, damaging and immensely upsetting" statements surrounding her divorce from Sir Paul, her lawyers said today.
Solicitors Mishcon de Reya named the the Daily Mail and the Evening Standard as the subject of legal proceedings. Legal action will also be taken against The Sun.
In a statement, Heather’s legal representatives said she had been vilified in the media and was now being stalked by photographers.
They said the 38-year-old could not afford to sue all the newspapers she wanted to.
"Her time and resources are not infinite. She cannot sue - for now, at least - every single newspaper that has published false, damaging, and immensely upsetting statements about her.
"She should not thereby be taken to have accepted that these statements are true."
The storm over the couple’s increasingly bitter divorce began last Tuesday when legal papers were leaked to the press.
The document, apparently prepared by Mishcon de Reya in answer to Sir Paul’s divorce petition, contained allegations that he mistreated his wife during the couple’s four-year marriage.
The ex-Beatle, through his lawyers, insisted he would "vigorously" defend himself against the claims.
Mishcon de Reya said: "It would appear that the media has concluded that there are no limits to what may be said about, or done to, our client."
The statement finished: "We ask on behalf of our client for the media, as a matter of common decency, please now to show some restraint."
Divorce row Heather backed by friends - Oct 20 2006
Friends of Heather Mills McCartney have rallied round her as the divorce battle with Sir Paul McCartney becomes increasingly bitter.
Their split has dominated the headlines after a document purporting to be a legal response by Lady McCartney set out a catalogue of sensational accusations against Sir Paul.
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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