18 Days of McCartney Day 9- Heather Mills

Heather Anne Mills was born on 12 January, 1968 to former soldier, John Mark Francis Mills, and Beatrice Mary Finlay in Aldershot, Hampshire. John Mills comes from Brighton where he lived with his foster parents, who adopted him when he was seven years old. His foster-parents owned a grocery shop and as a second job, his fosters-father was a mechanic for Grand Pix racing team. Beatrice Finlay was born during World War II in India where she was sent to an English boarding school. John would meet Beatrice at Newcastle University.  The couple were a widely interesting in their own rights. Beatrice playing piano and speaking several languages while John played banjo, guitar, won an Evening Standard award for his photography, an athlete, and an animal lover; it's no surprise that their daughter would grow up as an animal-activist.

Heather, her parents, and her two siblings, Shane and Fiona, moved to Northumberland when she was six years old and soon moved to Washington, Tyne and wear, followed by their final move to Cockshott Farm in Rothbury, Northumberland. She attended Usworth Grange Primary school and Uswork Comprehensive school. Her family had started to fall apart when Heather was nine when her mother left the family due to John's abusive behavior. Four years later, when she was thirteen, Heather ran away after behind abused by her father; he later was arrested.After her father was arrested for eighteen months, her and her sister went to live with her mother in Clapham, London while Shane went to live with their grandparents in Birghton.  When Heather was fifteen years old she ran away again to join the funfair, unsuccessful, she lived in a cardboard box under Waterloo Station for four months- her mothers boyfriend, Charles Stapley, denied this saying that she went away for a weekend to see a young man who worked for the funfair.  Her teachers in school would write reports saying "there's no hope for her at all" and she was fired from her job working at a croissant shop with her employer saying, "never to work for anyone else again." In her stories she wrote about a man named Jim Guy, owner of Penrose Jewellers. She said that Jim had given her a job working on Saturdays,

"Everything she wrote about me was lies, I never gave her a job; she just hung around and made tea. She told me her father was dead. the only thing was true was she nicked stuff from the shop." -Jim Guy, from Telegraph

While working her Heather had stolen a few gold chains and would sell them for a moped where she was later put on probation.

She met Alfie Karmal in May of 1989. Karmal, age thirty, encouraged Mills, age twenty, to start modelings. With this idea in mind he bought her new clothes, suggested she get cosmetic surgery, and he had set up his own model agency, ExSell Managemnet. In 1987, she told her husband that she was going to Paris where a cosmetic company offered her a job as a model, it was later found out that she became involved with millionaire, George Kazan, for two years. During this time she had also took part in photo sessions for a German sex education manual called The Joys of Love. On her return home she asked Alfie to marry her where he told her he would marry her on one condition; she stops her compulsive lying. She then came out to say that everyman she has dated asked her to marry her within a week.


While married to Alfie she had experienced two ectopic pregnancies, to take her mind off of things Alfie sent her on vacation in 1990. While on vacation and the start of the Croatian war, Mills lived with ski instructor, Milos Pogacar. With the war begun she set up her own refugee crisis center in London where she helped over twenty people escape. She later said,

"[I] worked on the front line in a war zone in the former Yugoslavia for two years where there were mines everywhere that weren't marked."

Alfie and Heather divorced in 1989 and she was then engaged to a bond dealer of the Industrial Bank of Japan, Raffaele Minocion in 1993. That same year (1993) Heather was walking towards De Vere Gardens and Kensington Road, London while she was struck by a police motorcycle. This resulted in Heather suffering from crushed ribs, punctured lung, and shortening her leg by six inches- a plate was later attached to her pelvis. This lead to her being awarded £200,000 from the police, and would sell her story making an additional £180,000. With that money Heather started the Heather Mills Health Trust, an organization that delivers prosthetic limbs- Mills herself had now taken on a new leg. She then went on to spread her story in her book Out on a Limb and television appearances such as Larry King. During this time period her and Minocion had broke up and she was engaged and married to Marcus Stapleton after dating for sixteen days; broke up. Then she was engaged to Chris Terrill in 1999 but called the wedding off five days before it happend telling the media that Chris was gay, an M16 agent, and he was going to sabotage her.

"I soon realised that Heather had a somewhat elastic relation ship with the truth, which she was able to stretch impressively sometimes."- Chris Terrill, The Daily Telegraph

It was April 1999 when Paul McCartney was at the Dorchester Hotel for a Pride of Britain Awards event to present an award to a fellow animal right activist and an award dedicate to his former wife, Linda. Heather herself was presenting the Outstanding Bravery Award to Helen Smith.  Paul had spoke to Heather after the awards about donating to her charity, later giving her £150,000.  The following fall Paul was found to be singing back up vocals on Heather and her sisters song "Voice", and would later find themselves staying at Paul's home in Peasmarsh, Sussex. The two started seeing each other publicly after been seen together at her 32nd birthday in 2000.

The couple were on holiday in the Lake District when Paul proposed to her on the 23 July 2001 with a £15,000 sapphire diamond from India. About a year later on 11 June, 2002 the couple where married at Castle Leslie in Ireland; it was also the day of Paul's release "Heather". She went onto inspire other ballads such as his "Too Much Rain" and "See Your Sunshine". Eric Clapton, Elton John, Bill Clinton and other big names had attended the wedding. Heather had became the cook of the house, just like Paul, she was a vegetarian herself. Not only did she do the cooking but even gave Paul a fake finger nail for his left finger that would often bleed after playing guitar. 

Within the first year of their marriage Heather had suffered from a miscarriage but by the following year she would be pregnant with the couples first (and only) child, Beatrice Milly McCartney who was born on 28 October, 2003. 

In 2006 the couple had separated, Mills stating that it was due to Paul's daughter Stella. It's not secret that Stella wasn't a fan of her new step-mom and when Heather asked Stella to design a dress for her for their wedding Stella turned her down. Another reason for the divorce could be Heather's need to be publicized making appearances on radio shows, persuading her husband to go on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on Christmas, Interviews with Larry King and Paul Newman, and her stories to the papers and press. She had decided to get help from her sister and a few attorneys for the divorce hearing that took play in court 34 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Prior to the case Mills had stated that Paul was constantly drunk or high and would stab her with a wine glass, then push her over a table and into a bathtub while carrying their child-- non of which is true. She then went on to say how great it was to be married to him and how he would bring her breakfast everyday, even saying

"I will never get over it. I will always love Paul. He is the father of my child, but I just have to move on and deal with it and there is nothing I can do... I have never spoken badly about my husband.  I never will, he is the father of my child."

 At the beginning of the hearing she asked for £125 million;  McCartney came back with an offer of £15.8 million.The hearing took six days with Mills being reward with £24.3 million with additional cost too take care of Beatrice. The judge of the McCartney-Mills case had spoken out on the hearing saying that Heather's evidences was inconsistent and inaccurate.

After the divorce she was picked on by the tabloids saying she was only in it for the money, and she would soon receive death threats. The police had become fed up with Mills saying she relayed too much on 999 Service. She had then related her divorce with Paul to Princess Diana's death, saying she was chased and killed by paparazzi's.

Since then Mill's has done hundreds of interviews and even appeared on Dancing on Ice television series .She had wished to take part in representing Great Britain in the 20134 Paralypic Games but resigned due to complications with her equipment.