Divorce is hell - Sir Paul
2007-10-15 20:40
London - Former Beatle Paul McCartney has admitted that divorcing his estranged wife, Heather Mills, is painful, but says music and their young daughter help him through.
McCartney, who failed to hammer out a deal with Mills in closed-door talks in court last week, also dismissed rumours of romance with a number of Hollywood actresses in recent months.
"Going through a divorce is a very painful thing," he told the Radio Times weekly magazine, adding: "As Winston Churchill once said, 'If you're going through hell, keep going!'
"The only solution is to remain dignified. If I don't keep a silence about it, I lose this idea of being dignified."
The 65-year-old spent more than eight hours in negotiations with Mills last Thursday, trying to thrash out details of potentially the costliest divorce settlement in British legal history.
According to reports, McCartney offered Mills £50m in a deal which would ban her from talking about their marriage.
McCartney's name has been linked with several actresses in recent months, including Bridget Jones star Renee Zellwegger, Rosanna Arquette and Christine Brinkley.
"Well, I went on holiday in America and went to concerts - James Taylor, Tom Petty - and there were lots of well-known people," he said.
"And I stopped by to say 'hi' to Christine Brinkley and, unbeknown to me, someone took a picture. And suddenly everybody's going, 'Ooooh, Paul, I don't know if you should marry her!'
Baby is a 'great joy'
"I went on holiday. I met a lot of people. I started a lot of rumours. But, there's no truth to any of them," he said.
And, he said his three-year-old daughter, Beatrice, helped him see the lighter side of life.
"I've a wonderful baby. She's a great joy to me, as are my elder children, so I'm a lucky man," he said.
In other comments, he called Queen Elizabeth II a "babe" - "I've got a lot of time for the queen. She's fun, she's funny, she's amazing" - and fantasised about reforming The Beatles.
"Since you're leading me down that flowery path, we could imagine that John would be this fantastic elder statesman, very much in command of his lifestyle, I'd be alongside him singing magnificently," he said.
"George would be playing like an angel on his guitar. We'd be gelling, sound like nothing anyone's ever heard before with all the power of modern amplification.
"And, behind us, would be the world's greatest drummer. And, it'd be fandabidozi!"