Heather McCartney Cries Out On British TV That the UK Tabloids 'Call Me A Whore, A Gold Digger, A Fantasist, And A Liar' So She Wants More European Parliament Regulation For A 'Specific Portion' Of Newspapers

Philip M. Stone November 1, 2007

It’s probably true to say that when they try, UK national tabloid newspapers can border on being as low, nasty and vicious as the public will accept, and they have been handing out just that to Heather McCartney in her ongoing divorce battle with former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney. So in an extraordinary TV interview Wednesday the lady tried to fight back, breaking down in tears, and basically crying out that enough was enough.

Her main problem is that husband Paul is seen in the UK as a man who can do little wrong. He was married to Linda McCartney for 29 years and he lovingly cared for her through her cancerous death. The view, held particularly strongly by a large majority of women, seems to be that Heather got her man too soon, tramping on Linda’s memory, and  the tabloids have played up to that sentiment for all it’s worth.

But her outburst comes at a particularly sensitive time for tabloid journalism as the public remains engrossed with the Princess Diana coroner’s inquest looking at what part the paparazzi played in her death, and would there be paparazzi if the tabloids did not buy their pictures, and would the newspapers not buy those pictures if the public did not buy newspapers with those pictures.

The inquest heard this week, for instance, that the first paparazzi at Diana’s crash scene, there within seconds, took pictures and tried to keep other photographers away and then phoned from the tunnel to the Sun tabloid offering the exclusive pictures for £300,000 ($610,000, €432,000). Even for The Sun that was too gross – the pictures never saw the light of day.

And the tabloids are giving a particularly hard time now to the McCann family whose daughter was allegedly snatched while sleeping in a Portuguese holiday hotel room while her parents were eating some 300 meters (yards) away. Great sympathy for the family turned venomous a couple of months later when Portuguese police made soundings that they thought  the McCanns themselves had something to do with their daughter’s disappearance. As it stands now, daily unflattering stories, no arrests, no daughter.

So in such an environment Heather asked to be invited onto the GMTV morning breakfast show and started in on how terribly the tabloids have treated her. The interview was so engrossing the producers let it run over schedule.

Her basic theme was, “What are we doing as a nation buying these newspapers? “We need to force a change as a responsible nation.”  And the way to do that, she said, was to get the European Parliament to further regulate a “specific portion” of the media.

“I need to get everybody to petition that they don’t want to be lied to any more by the press.”They want their children to grow up in a society where press is just and fair and the size of the lie they print is the size of the apology they have to print,” she said.

And then the tears started. “They make up such lies. They’ve called me a whore, a gold-digger, a fantasist, a liar, the most unbelievably hurtful things, and I’ve stayed quiet for my daughter. But my daughter... we’ve had death threats; I’ve been close to suicide. I’m so upset about this... I’ve had worse press than a pedophile or a murderer and I’ve done nothing but charity for 20 years.”

She said it has been 18 months of abuse with 4,400 abusive articles and still counting.  “My plan is to change the law in the European Parliament and I will do it.”

She compared the media’s treatment of her to that of Kate McCann, the missing daughter’s mother, and Princess Diana, that she has received death threats, and that the tabloids had driven her “close to suicide”.

She said that because of her media treatment, “I'm living in a prison and I'll have to fight back or I'll go insane.  “Look what they’re doing to the McCanns. The woman has lost, and the poor father, have lost their daughter. What are we doing as a nation?

“What are we doing persecuting a woman that is devastated behind closed doors and trying to hold it together, as I have for 18 months?

“What did the paparazzi do to Diana? They chased her and they killed her.

“Never mind all these other stories, that is what we are doing as a nation, buying these newspapers.”

The McCartneys announced their separation last year and began divorce proceedings this July. They have a 3-year-old daughter, Beatrice. There has been much media speculation that this will be the most costly divorce settlement in UK history – some numbers have gone as far as £100 million, ($212 million, €145 million) with each side represented by the lawyers who acted for Prince Charles and Princess Diana in their divorce.

There was no pre-nuptial, although it is juicily said that Stella McCartney, Paul‘s daughter, begged her dad to draw up such an agreement but he said he simply couldn’t do such a thing, probably on the assumption that he believed 29 years with Linda wouldn’t mean just four years with Heather. More sympathy vote.

The speculative settlement numbers have only enhanced Heather in the tabloids as a “money-grabber”, but she said not only has she not been offered any settlement, “How do you know if I even want any money? I’m £1.5 million ($3.1 million, €2.15 million) in debt in lawyers’ fees, and that’s as much as I can say (because of a gag order on both sides) or I go to jail, for telling the truth.”

The media had speculated during a  private court meeting earlier this month that the only thing that had nixed a settlement was Heather’s reluctance to accept a confidentiality clause, indeed speculation said she was willing to take less money from Paul so she could speak and write about the marriage later – far more lucrative financially. For instance, a Daily Mail exclusive had reported Heather was so angry that there was no settlement that her revenge which would put added pressure on Paul, is to try and get Hollywood to make a film about her marriage with Reese Witherspoon in the lead role. All the more reason, probably, that Paul insists on the confidentiality clause!

To the tabloids, about the only trait worse than “money-grubber” is “kiss and tell” unless, of course, the kiss and tell is to a tabloid and then that winning tabloid will probably print it in such a way as to exclaim profound distaste at running such muck for which they paid a fortune but they would, of course, promote it to the hilt, while the losing tabloids would produce every spoiler possible, and act as one in roundly condemning the winning tabloid for printing such trash. Such is the tabloid business.

So now that they have been attacked how do the tabloids respond. Judging from The Sun’s website it seems to be business as usual with these tidbits:

“In her over-the-top appearance Heather – who posed for filthy porn pictures before marrying the Beatles legend - added that she had received death threats and had been “close to suicide”.

And there was:

“Earlier this year Heather, dubbed Mucca due to her colorful past, declared she wasn’t a publicity seeker before going on to appear on all the major TV networks … During a lengthy campaign to blacken her ex’s name, Mucca sunk to new depths by claiming he beat her up during their marriage. But, amazingly, on GMTV she claimed she has been trying to protect Paul - who has been seeing a heart specialist during his acrimonious split.

And we are reminded what a gentleman Paul is. “Paul, 65, generously gave Mucca £2 million at the start of the year as a ‘down payment’ for the eventual divorce settlement.”

All of which is probably why she wore a yellow sweater for the morning with the words “Boycott the Sun” embroidered on the front.

As for the Daily Mail, it settled for just calling Heather’s interview “a tearful tirade”

So if Heather thought there would be any sympathy she apparently got that one wrong.

And what does Paul McCartney think of the media’s handling of the divorce so far? In a May interview he said, “There's only one real answer to the massive press coverage — don't look. So I don't read it."

Sounds like the kind of advice that Heather should follow, too.

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