Sir Paul McCartney has had many losses in his life – loved ones, money, and time. But there is something that Paul never lost – faith in true love, which eventually did come into his life.
Born on June 18, 1942, in Liverpool, England, Paul McCartney is a global musical icon as one of the members of the 1960s band The Beatles. he was not only the lead singer and bass player, but he and fellow Beatle John Lennon were a prolific songwriting team.
The self-taught musician draws inspiration from many genres of music like jazz, classical and electronic music, as well as American rock and roll. Besides the bass, he also can play other instruments, including guitar, drums, and keyboard.
McCartney rose to fame with the Beatles when he was just 21 years old, and his life changed overnight. Beatlemania took the world by storm, and there was no shortage of women interested in the handsome musician. Speaking of his first love, he said:
“I met Jane Asher when she was sent by the Radio Times to cover a concert we were in at the Royal Albert Hall – we had a photo taken with her for the magazine and we all fancied her.”
McCartney managed to convince his crush, Jane Asher, who was just 17 at the time, to be his girl. During their relationship, Asher became the musician’s muse, inspiring songs like “All My Loving” and “And I Love Her.” He asked the journalist to be his wife, but it was not meant to be.
In 1968, Asher found out that McCartney had been unfaithful to her. From the time he was working on the Rubber Soul album in 1965, he was reported to have had dalliances with other women, including Francie Schwartz and actress Peggy Lipton.
The scorned lover went on Simon Dee’s show Dee Time on the BBC and announced that she was done with the Beatle, marking the end of the five-year relationship. The breakup was one of history’s most public and dramatic. But it must have been painfully embarrassing to those involved.
Then McCartney got together with high-flying celebrity photographer Linda Eastman. The acquaintances who first met at a Georgie Fame concert in London met again in New York in 1968. They got married at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London after six months of dating. Speaking of their early life, McCartney recalled:
“When she came to Britain and we got to together the greatest thing about it was we both wanted to be free.”
The couple had three children together, Mary, Stella, and James. Paul also adopted Eastman’s daughter, Heather, with her previous husband, Joseph Melville. The McCartney family loved spending time on their farm in Kintyre, Scotland, where Eastman took photos of the locals.
Heather McCartney is a potter and artist, while Mary McCartney followed in her mother’s footsteps to become a photographer. She was the subject of the cover art of McCartney’s 1970 solo debut. Mary has also been instrumental in curating and exhibiting her mother’s work.
Stella McCartney is a famed eco-fashion designer and creator of a skin-care line. And James McCartney is a musician following his dad’s example. Eastman’s love for nature and animals inspired her to be vegetarian, and she was a pioneer of the movement in the UK.
Sadly, Eastman succumbed to breast cancer. During their 30-year marriage, the notorious flirt is said to have never cheated on his wife. When she died, McCartney said he cried steadily for a whole year. Speaking of his heartbreak after losing his wife, the artist said:
“You expect to see them walk in, this person you love, because you are so used to them. I cried a lot. It was almost embarrassing except it seemed the only thing to do.”
The loss of his love hit the musician even harder because he lost his mother, Mary, to the same illness when he was only 14. But the experience of not grieving for his mother gave him the courage to show his emotions for Linda.
Ten years after her death, the singer remembered Eastman fondly. From the first time they met, there was an instant connection that changed him for the better. He recalled how much she loved adventure and getting lost in the beauty of nature. She taught him not to take himself too seriously.
Having endured the losses in his life, Paul McCartney never lost hope in love.
He said that the mother of his children was active until her death. He was unable to stop her from taking a horse ride even until the days preceding her passing. The chemotherapy and ill health may have weakened her body, but her fighting spirit persisted to the end. Linda Eastman breathed her last on April 17, 1998.
A year after his first wife’s death, McCartney met Heather Mills, a model, and author. They got married in 2002. Mills lost part of her leg in an accident and wrote “Out on a Limb” about her experience. She was also a fierce advocate against the use of land mines. However, not everyone was a fan of the new wife. Speaking about McCartney’s daughter, Mills said:
“Every single week Stella tried to break up our marriage. She was so jealous.”
Mills and the musician had a daughter, Beatrice McCartney, in October 2003. James described his little sister as a “real joy” to the family. This love story was to be shortlived as the couple had a much-publicized divorce between 2006 and 2008.
Mills received a whopping $50 million divorce settlement from McCartney. Both parties were glad when it was all over. And though family members were not fond of Mills, they remained respectful for the sake of Beatrice.
The wedding was a family affair, with Stella designing the wedding clothes, Mary taking photos, and Beatrice acting as the flower girl.
Not only did Mills’ efforts to blend in with the elder McCartney children fail, but she also lost the battle with the media. The coverage of details of her relationship with McCartney cast her in a negative light. But as Mills would later say, everyone eventually moves on. She and McCartney focused on being good parents to Beatrice.
Comparisons between Shevell and McCartney’s first wife are inevitable since he seems to have recaptured his former freedom within his new relationship.
Even the registrar agreed that the couple was “very relaxed and very charming and clearly in love with each other.” After a simple vegetarian meal, guests had the choice between a vegan cake and a traditional one. The couple toasted to Lennon, who would have been 71 years old.
When McCartney was ready to introduce his new relationship to the world, he simply said, “I just like being in love.” And when Shevell was asked if it was hard coping with dating a famous person, she had this to say:
“I’m a cancer survivor, I run a trucking company and I’ve got a 16-year-old to raise. That’s stress.”
Comparisons between Shevell and McCartney’s first wife are inevitable since he seems to have recaptured his former freedom within his new relationship. But the similarities are more an indication of what the singer desired in a long-term partner.
Like Eastman, Shevell loves to spend time outdoors. She was born and bred on the East coast of the USA, and she is a breast cancer survivor. Shevell is also very family-oriented and is focused on raising her son and building good relationships with her husband’s children.
While the whole world was grappling with the restrictions brought by the pandemic, McCartney had the pleasure of being with his daughter Mary and her family. In addition to spending time with his grandkids, he found time to do something that was overdue. As he released his latest album, “McCartney 3,” the musician said:
“I wasn’t trying to make an album. So suddenly I had these 10 songs, I thought, ‘What am I going to do with these?’”
Having endured the losses in his life, Paul McCartney never lost hope in love. And he was able to find it again in his wife, Nancy Shevell. He also has children who adore him and grandchildren who bring him joy. Every loss was a stepping stone to finding the life he has today.
