McCartney divorce revelations

Yesterday saw dramatic revelations in the increasingly acrimonious divorce battle between Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills. The Daily Mail, a British newspaper, claims that court papers filed on behalf of Mills contain a list of misdemeanours alleged to have been perpetrated by McCartney, the former Beatle worth an estimated $1.5 billion. These include allegations of illegal drug taking, violence and psychological abuse by what Mills describes as a ‘vindictive’ man. The worst of these claims appears to be that McCartney stabbed his wife in the arm with a broken wine glass and that he even attacked her while she was pregnant. The list of abuses printed by the newspaper includes claims that McCartney:

- Stabbed her in the arm with a broken wine glass after one argument then flung her into a wheelchair, demanding she apologise for "winding him up".

- Grabbed her by the neck and pushed her over a coffee table.

- Pushed her into a bath while she was four weeks pregnant.

- Started choking her after she asked him if he had been smoking drugs.

- Continued to use illegal drugs and drink excessively, despite promises made before they married.

- Called her an "ungrateful bitch" in a dispute over an office.

- Tried to stop her breastfeeding, saying: "They are my breasts" and "I don't want a mouthful of breastmilk".

- Made her cancel a crucial operation because it interfered with his holiday plans.

- Objected when she asked to buy a bedpan to save her crawling to the toilet at night, saying it would be like being in "an old woman's home".

- Forced her to crawl on her hands and knees up the steps of a plane because they were not wide enough for her wheelchair.

- Vomited on himself after a drinking session and staggered home drunk and slurring, demanding his dinner.

These are obviously disgusting acts and, if shown to be true, paint a picture of McCartney far removed from his rather shiny public image. However, as is so often the case with media intrusion into legal cases, selective public revelations such as these can often unfairly and irreparably taint the image of a public figure and make it far more difficult for a balanced and fair judgment to be made by those responsible for deciding the case. Although given that the divorce settlement will be decided by a specialist judge, it is hopefully unlikely that these latest claims will affect the outcome too greatly.

Both the protagonists in the case yesterday chose to avoid commenting on these allegations. Mills’ representatives denied that she had any knowledge of or responsibility for the leaked documents, which were faxed anonymously to the Daily Mail, although they did state that she ‘stands by everything that has been filed at court’. Sir Paul, meanwhile, has simply promised that he will fight any accusations in court rather than through the media, which seems rather sensible.

A divorce case involving such a high-profile figure and such extraordinary sums of money is bound to attract much media and public attention, and now yesterday’s revelations have added a new, darker dimension to the whole affair. Of course McCartney is innocent until proven guilty, but often this does not matter too much when it comes to public opinion. However, given that he is such a popular and successful figure, and given that Mills has so much money to potentially gain from these divorce proceedings, there will be many who view these accusations as a spurious attempt to dirty McCartney’s name.