Heather Mills “struggled” to live in Paul McCartney’s childhood home, which had love notes and pictures of his late wife Linda, a friend of the star claims.
The former model’s ghostwriter and confidante, Pamela Cockerill, appears in the new documentary The Trials of Heather Mills, which airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.
In the 90-minute TV special, the author—who wrote Heather’s 1996 biographer Out on a Limb—recounted the early days of Heather’s marriage to Paul McCartney.
The couple – with a 25-year age difference – 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 Glaslough, Ireland in 2002, Heather moved into Paul’s home in Rye, East Sussex, which he bought with Linda in 1973.
Paul McCartney and Heather Mills pictured at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2002. The couple had married the previous year
Pamela explained, “I think Heather found it quite difficult living in the same house Linda had lived in just a few years before.
And the house hadn’t changed much. [Linda] was an inescapable presence because she was clearly a big part of Paul’s life.’
In addition, Heather’s friend claims that Paul had included tributes to his love for his first wife in the design of some of the rooms.
She continued, “There were little plaques 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 age 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.
In addition, author Howard Sounes – who wrote the biography Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney – added: “I’m sure it must have been very difficult for Heather to step into the life of a man who had been happily married for many years. . years.
“They had kids together and I’m sure he was still in love with Linda. He probably wasn’t over it yet.
Paul McCartney pictured hugging his first wife Linda in 1989. The couple had been married for 29 years when she passed away 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 that Heather ‘struggled’ to live in the family home
“He kept Linda’s ring on until the day before he married Heather.”
Elsewhere in the documentary, Pamela described how Paul and Heather’s relationship was “fleeting from the start.”
She explained, “They were such strong characters.
“They were both used to getting their own way. Before they got married, there was a big argument in a hotel room in America and [Heather’s] engagement ring thrown out the window.
“I don’t know who threw it away, but the next day the staff went around with metal detectors and found the ring.”
Paul McCartney and his ex-wife Heather Mills exchange a kiss outside Castle Leslie in Glaslough, Ireland prior to their 2002 wedding
Meanwhile, Heather’s boyfriend said she struggled with Paul always being the center of attention when he got involved in her charitable causes.
Before meeting Paul, Heather had worked with Cambodia Trust and Voluntary Services Overseas to help them establish schools for prosthetics across South East Asia – after losing her leg in a 1993 collision with a police motorcycle.
In the early 1990s, Heather began working with Adopt-A-Minefield to help landmine survivors – which was also close to Sir Paul’s heart.
Pamela discussed the impact this had on the marriage and continued, “She still wanted to do her charity work.
“She still wanted to be who she was and not forget that and it was kind of hard to keep doing that.
“Once he got involved with charities, he became the star of the show and she was just an extra.”
Heather Mills pictured at the UK premiere of Marlowe in March 2023. The former model was awarded £23 million in cash and assets in her divorce settlement from Paul McCartney
Left: Paul McCartney and wife Nancy Shevell at their 2011 wedding. Right: Heather and her new partner Mike Dickman
In 2003, Heather gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Beatrice. The couple announced their separation three years later before finalizing their divorce in 2008.
As part of the deal, Heather was given £23 million in cash and assets in their divorce settlement.
Paul McCartney married his third wife, businesswoman Nancy Shevell, 63, in 2011.
In December 2021, Heather Mills was rumored to have married her businessman boyfriend Mike Dickman.
The pair started dating in the spring of 2019 and Mike, who is 17 years her junior, had been spotted wearing a gold wedding ring.
The couple got engaged just before Christmas 2020 and were holidaying together in Dubai when news of the engagement broke in January. She then wrote, “What better way to celebrate my birthday than with the love of my life.”
Friends say they had a beach ceremony in the Maldives in 2021, on the palm-fringed sands of the Anantara resort, where rooms start at £450 per night.
Before Sir Paul, Heather was engaged to documentary filmmaker Chris Terrill, media executive Marcus Stapleton and businessman Raffaele Mincione.
Her first marriage, at the age of 21, was to businessman Alfie Karmal. They separated two years later.