Linda - My Life with a Legend (1973)

 

Linda: My Life With a Legend

By Romany Bain

Daily Mirror

November 29, 1973

    Even after more than four years, Linda McCartney has still not been forgiven for marrying Prince Paul Charming. We've accepted the other Beatle girls (give or take a Yoko), but at 32, Linda still seems to be represented as an interloper, not good enough for our lovely Liverpool lad.

     She's none of these things. She's friendly, sympathetic, and unaffected. She smiles a lot, and her husband adores her. When I met the McCartneys, they were dubbing mouse voices for a TV cartoon film. "Be kind to her. She's nervous and not used to interviews," called Paul as we left the studio.

    The McCartneys are inseparable. "Doesn't it put a strain on a marvelous marriage when two people are together as much as you are?" I asked.

 "You have to have a special understanding," She smiled. "We just feel that it's very important to be together when we are working. I hate it to become like two male partners yelling and blaming each other. I don't want to dominate. For me, life is warmth and friendliness."

     "Has marriage changed Paul?"

     "Not really, except that he used to club it and chase chicks, and now he's very involved with his family. He's still a boy with a very Beatles sense of humor. He's a bit moody, being an artist and a Gemini. I'm calmer. I'm a Libra, and we're supposed to go together. 

    "Paul brings out the maternal in me, and I definitely mother him. Yet he is my strength. I don't blow up as easily as I used to. We don't seem to say all those negative truths which are so hurtful. Our fights are brought on by outside pressures, not personal bitches, and they always end happily."

     "Had Linda any idea what she had taken on when she married a Beatle?"

    " Absolutely not. I was very naive. I had no idea how much I'd be resented. It made me unhappy, but I've learned to accept it though."

    "Does she feels she was responsible for the Beatles breaking up?"

     "There was so much friction and bitterness all around. John was already restless and more into working with Yoko than Paul. So Paul quit. Suddenly, he was out of a job. Imagine that! It could have destroyed him if he hadn't been McCartney, the professional trooper.

     "I said, 'Let's go live in the country'. He began to unwind for the first time. He experienced total freedom. We herded sheep, and he clipped them. He built with stone and worked with wood. He would make a marvelous carpenter. He'd make a marvelous anything," she sighed happily. 

    "But didn't he miss the old life?"

     "He missed the personal appearances and the companionship. He wanted someone to share his music. He began to teach me. We played for fun and for pleasure, and slowly, the idea of forming a new group, Wings, was formed."

     "What about the other Beatles?"

     "We see Ringo a lot. He's lovely, and his wife, Maureen, is a dream. She's most like me, very family minded. We see George and Pattie, and John has mellowed a lot, and we'd like to get friendly again."

     It was time to go back to work. Paul came over and kissed her. "You're blushing again," he said. And hand in hand, they returned to the studio.