It’s hard to feel sympathy for Heather Mills McCartney, who wed a beloved musical icon and now stands to gain as much as a quarter of his wealth after just six years of marriage. The couple are in court trying to resolve their long-running and bitter divorce battle. At stake is how much money she gets. Press reports have suggested that he offered her around $50 million pounds (US$100 million), and that she is seeking at least double that amount. Oh, is that all? Good thing she isn’t, you know, being greedy.

Trouble in Paradise

Sir Paul was the one who filed for divorce citing “unreasonable behaviour.” The Daily Mail alleged that he accused her personal trainer of having an affair with Mills, which she denied. In televised interviews, she said the divorce was largely brought about by her husband’s dislike of her insistence that he should give more of his fortune to charities.

Right…

Poor, Poor Heather

Since the case is behind closed doors at the Royal Courts of Justice, we may never know the final settlement numbers. That is, unless one of them is unhappy with the outcome and appeals. Sir Paul, age 65, has hired a team of high-priced lawyers while 40-year-old Mills, who had a falling out with her attorneys, is representing herself. She’s arguing that before she met him, she was a popular speaker at events, but since the breakup, she’s become one of the most hated figures in the public eye.

“I’ve been close to suicide,” she moaned in one of her November interviews. “I’ve had worse press than a pedophile or a murderer.”

In October 2007 she was voted first on a list of Gold Diggers in an online poll.

Now I Ain’t Saying She’s A Gold-Digger…

We liked Heather Mills when we first heard of her and thought she might be as good of a replacement as you could find for Linda, his first wife who died four years earlier from breast cancer. Was it too soon, though, for the lonely, bereaved pop star to get down on bended knee and propose?

How can anyone not empathize with a girl who lands a modeling job only to get hit by a police motorbike as she crosses the street in August 1993 and has her left leg severed below the knee? What’s not to love about the same girl when she becomes an advocate for the disabled and ships prosthetic limbs to war zones?

Like any ugly divorce, there’s a little kid being used for financial leverage.

A Legend in Her Own Mind?

Did she manufacture a lot of her own backstory?

There are reported discrepancies between her account of her life story, such as claiming to have been awarded the Outstanding Young Person of the Year Award by the British Chambers of Commerce when no such award exists.

She also countered tabloid stories that the children of Paul McCartney’s first marriage disliked and resented her by telling New York magazine that stepdaughter Stella had issued a press release proclaiming how much she liked her stepmum. Stella’s publicist reportedly responded by saying no such statement had been issued. Oops! She’s since alleged that Stella contributed to the breakdown of the marriage by being “jealous” and “evil.”

You have to wonder why there’s so much venom that someone feels compelled to create a section on her personal website devoted to addressing media accusations. For her part, Mills claims the unflattering headlines are all the result of media bias. She compared herself to the late Princess Diana – who, according to Mills, was “chased and killed” by paparazzi.

The Facts

Born January 12, 1968 in Aldershot, Hampshire, England, the middle child of Mark and Beatrice Mills.

She attended Usworth School.

She married Alfie Karmal in 1989 and divorced him in 1991. She married Sir Paul in 2002 and separated from him in 2006.

She’s been a waitress, ski instructor, model, anti-land mines campaigner.

At age 20, she took part in a photo shoot with a male model with whom she performed simulated sex acts. The photos were published in a book entitled The Joys of Love. Recently, photos of her doing full frontal pornography have surfaced, courtesy of the UK tabloids. The explicit shots, taken before her accident, show a pouting Mills boasting: “I’m gonna drive you crazy with my body…”

Tabloid newspaper the News of the World alleged that she was involved in prostitution during an earlier period of her life, which she has strongly denied.

In March 2007, British police warned her about using the emergency phone number ‘999’ too often. They are quoted as saying they were having to spend a disproportionate amount of time on one particular person.

She appeared on the US TV show Dancing With the Stars in 2007. She was elimited in the sixth week of competition.

She is a vegetarian.

She works with the charity Adopt-a-Minefield in its campaign to clear landmines and help landmine survivors.

She launched a campaign to stop the international trade in cat and dog fur in China.

In October 2002 her updated autobiography A Single Step was released in North America.

Quotable

“Every guy I’ve been out with has asked me to marry them within a week.”

“If you wouldn’t wear your dog, please don’t wear fur.”

“I didn’t waste police time – they encouraged me to use them when I was being harassed.”

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- All images, information and quotes referenced here were taken from sites deemed to be within the public domain.