Heather Mills struggled to live in Paul McCartney’s family home that displayed love notes and photos of his late wife Linda, a friend of the star has claimed.
Former supermodel ghostwriter Pamela Cockerell has appeared in the new documentary The Trials of Heather Mills, which airs at 9pm on Channel 5 this evening.
In the 90-minute TV special, the author — who wrote Heather’s 1996 biographer Out on a Limb — opens up about the early days of Heather’s marriage to Paul McCartney.
The couple – who had an age gap of 25 years – first met in May 1999 at the Pride of Britain Awards in London, just over a year after Paul’s first wife Linda died of breast cancer.
After their lavish wedding in Glasgow, Ireland in 2002, Heather moved into Paul’s home in Rye, East Sussex – which he and Linda had bought in 1973.
Paul McCartney and Heather Mills pictured at the 2002 Vanity Fair Oscars party. The couple had married the previous year
Pamela explained: ‘I think Heather found it very difficult living in the same house that Linda had only two years earlier.
And the house hasn’t changed much. (Linda) was an unavoidable presence because she was obviously a huge part of Paul’s life.
What’s more, Heather’s friend claims that Paul has incorporated a tribute to his love for his first wife in the design of some of the rooms.
And she continued, “There were little signs saying ‘I love Linda’ above the doorways and pictures of her around.
“It must have been very difficult to deal with.”
When Linda died at the age of 56, the couple had been married for 29 years and shared their three children Mary, 53, Stella, 51, and James, 45. Paul also adopted Linda’s daughter Heather from his wife’s first marriage to Joseph Melville See Jr.
What’s more, author Howard Sones – who wrote the biography Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney – added: ‘I’m sure it was very difficult for Heather to transition into the life of a man who famously married him. years.
They had kids together and I’m sure he still loves Linda. He might not have gotten over it.
Paul McCartney is pictured hugging his first wife Linda in 1989. The couple had been married for 29 years when she died in 1998
Paul McCartney and his wife Linda with their daughters Heather, Stella and Mary at the family home in Rye in April 1976. A new documentary claims Heather “struggled” to live in the family home
“He kept Linda’s ring until the day before he married Heather.”
Elsewhere in the documentary, Pamela describes how Paul and Heather’s relationship was “volatile from the start”.
She explained, “They were such strong characters.
Both of them are used to having their own way. Before their marriage, there was a huge fight in a hotel room in America and Heather’s (Heather’s) engagement ring was thrown out the window.
“I don’t know who threw it but the next day the staff were all walking around with metal detectors and got the ring back.”
Paul McCartney and his ex-wife Heather Mills kiss outside Castle Leslie in Glasgow, Ireland prior to their wedding in 2002.
Meanwhile, a friend of Heather’s said she struggled with Paul always being “the center of attention” when he began to get involved in her charitable causes.
Before meeting Paul, Heather worked with the Cambodia Trust and Voluntary Services Overseas helping them set up prosthetics schools across Southeast Asia – after losing her leg in a collision with a police motorbike in 1993.
In the early 1900s, Heather began working with Adopt a Minefield to help landmine survivors – which was also a cause close to Sir Paul’s heart.
Discussing the impact this would have on the marriage, Pamela continued, “She wanted to continue doing her charitable work.
She still wanted to be who she was and in order not to forget that it was very hard to keep doing that.
“As soon as he started getting involved in charities, he became the star of the show and she was just an addition.”
Heather Mills is pictured at the UK premiere of Marlowe in March 2023. The former model was awarded £23m in cash and assets in her divorce settlement from Paul McCartney
Left: Paul McCartney and his wife, Nancy Shevell, at their wedding in 2011. Right: Heather and her new partner, Mike Dickmann
In 2003, Heather gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Beatrice. The couple announced their separation after three years before finalizing their divorce in 2008.
As part of the agreement, Heather was awarded £23 million in cash and assets in the divorce settlement.
Paul McCartney married his third wife, businesswoman Nancy Shevell, 63, in 2011.
In December 2021, Heather Mills was rumored to be married to her boyfriend, businessman Mike Dickmann.
The couple started dating in the spring of 2019 and Mike, who is 17 years her junior, was seen wearing a gold wedding ring.
The couple got engaged just before Christmas 2020 and were holidaying together in Dubai when the engagement news broke in January. At the time, she wrote, “What better way to spend my birthday than with the love of my life.”
Friends say they threw a beachside party in the Maldives in 2021, on the palm-fringed sands of the Anantara resort, where rooms start at £450 a night.
Prior to Sir Paul, Heather was with documentarian Chris Tyrrell, media executive Marcus Stapleton, and entrepreneur Raffaele Mincione.
Her first marriage, at the age of 21, was to businessman Alvi Karmal. They split after two years.
