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Family "As
a father, he's the most important to me to help deal with everything we're dealing with. It's obviously been a very difficult
time for us this past year, but you know, we're drawing on our energies and we're moving forward." -Heather
(after Linda's death)
"She's a great joy to me, as are my elder children, so I'm a lucky man." -Paul "We never pushed them into anything when they were younger.
They're all over twenty-one now, so they're ready to work themselves" -Paul "There's always problems between stepmothers- think of Cinderella, there's the wicked stepmother"
-Heather Mills "I absolutely adore my kids more
than anything. They're my best friends" -Linda "We're very proud of the way
in which all our kids want to do their own thing" -Linda "That
really makes me smile. When I'm cooking, I put on a Wings album and listen to them singing together. And it's guaranteed to
make me smile, every time." -Mary "Frankly, he has come from the same standpoint as my mom. Which is to try and keep the
creative pressure as low as possible in order to keep the creativity as high as possible." -Mary "I
really admire my sister for refusing to use any animal products in her collections, and I have to say she has never once wavered.
My children are still too young to make up their own minds, but I hope they will grow up to love animals as we do. I refuse
to photograph leather and fur, so of course I am limiting my options when it comes to getting work, but it's not impossible.
I see it as a challenge." -Mary "My children are beautiful, they
are beautiful. They are wonderful. They are lovely." -Paul "I have a five year old, Beatrice, and the big kids. Stella is a wonderful
fashion designer, she's the best in the world. Then Mary is a great photographer, does a lot of work for magazines and stuff.
And I have a daughter Heather who is a ceramist, potter. She is a lovely girl. I have a boy, James, who plays guitar and we're
making an album." -Paul “I
think Mum and Dad were close because they both lost their mothers when they were young. It was one of the things that bonded
them. You could glimpse it when certain songs came on the radio, and they'd both be suddenly sad at the same time. I also
think it's what made them so family-oriented.” –Mary
"I'm going through great struggles but have a lot of support. In difficult moments like this, it's when a
loving family shines through. We're pretty close anyway, but when you go into something difficult, it does actually bring
you closer together” -Paul
'I'm very lucky. I don't
think that I am magnificent, I just think I've been very lucky. I think I've been brought up in a certain way. Mary's like
that, my brother and sisters are like that. My husband's like that. I think that you do stand out if you stand out against
things. It was very hard in my industry especially to have those kind of principles and I did have the mickey taken out of
me probably up to about a year ago. And people will probably read this and chuck it on their barbie and cook beef on it but
the reality is I'm more impressed by people who take a risk and who stand up to good beliefs and I think in this day and age" -Stella 'The main thing is
not to bang on about it too much. We don't generally bang on about it, I try to keep my head down and get on with it and design
pretty frocks, that's my job. And dad makes pretty good records when he's given half an hour in between his potato mashing,
and Mary's a fantastic photographer. But I don't think we want to come across as forcing people to think a certain way, I
think it's just a very valid issue and life's too short to not do something you believe in. You've only got a short little
period on the planet to make something of your life." -Stella "I was at Abbey Road studios the other day and Paul was there.
He was with his daughters Beatrice and Mary, who had her boys (Arthur and Elliot)
with her and I said to the boys 'Do you want to play the game pretending to be your grandfather?' They loved it." -Gilles Martin (regarding
The Beatles: Rock Band) “I'm close to all my children.”
-Paul “It was normal to us, like having a camera or seeing Mum and Dad play live what you grow up with is
normal to you. When you get a bit older and go to school, and see what other people's families are like, then you start comparing
it to your life. But Stella and I are quite close in age, and we were partners in crime, with my older sister” –Mary
"He
is an incredibly generous man, emotionally and financially. But we were never spoilt or handed wads of money. My parents were
first generation wealthy, they earned their money, they didn't inherit it. I never felt entitled, and I do not feel entitled.
I'm a worker, and I let my kids know that you work for money, and that if you take them out for pizza, it costs money." -Stella
“Obviously, being a woman, I've probably got a couple more questions for her than I do for dad. I feel
like a different person since my mom passed away, like I'm driving a ship with my husband alongside me and we're leading these
four children into unknown waters. And at the same time, I have this other little family that is Stella McCartney Limited,
and I'm on a journey with them as well. I feel like I'm in the thick of it. I mean, the eye of the storm. Sometimes I'll get
into the bath with all my kids and they'll look at me and say, "Oh, it's just us! It's just our family in the bath!" And I
remember that feeling, when it was just our family. It's such a powerful moment. I grew up with the six of us, and now our
family's got six, so I'm very aware of the numbers and the way it slots together.” –Stella "Of all of them
I think I’m most similar to Stella and Mary. I really relate to the way they’ve dealt with their circumstances
– they’re like big sisters to me." –Dhani
"I went to Scotland
a lot on holiday each summer with my family and I was in the womb when my mum and dad did Mull of Kintyre, so it means a lot
to me- great memories of my mum and my family." -James
“Originally it was because,
as a family, we were very conscious of where our food came from. My mum was a great cook and I didn’t want to eat animals
or have anything killed for me to eat it. When you’re a little girl you’re thinking, ‘I’m not going
to eat Bambi’. The industry and the bad impact on the environment added another element to my strength of feeling. You
might think a burger looks good, but can you really eat it knowing how it got to your plate?” -Mary
“My mum and dad were both interested in photography, so I grew up subconsciously seeing a lot of photography in
books and exhibitions and having it in my day-to-day life. In a way, I thought that was normal. It wasn’t until later
that I realized that not everybody takes pictures all the time.” -Mary
“We grew up with food on our faces and clothes that didn’t fit and it was all very funky—all of which
was to our benefit. That feeling of intimacy and observing people and striving for the intensity of characters became why
I’m obsessed with pictures.” -Mary
Paul McCartney
"My
blood father has had a lifelong influence on me. He trained as a geologist and now, as an artist, I'm very interested in crystals,
quarts, and turquoise. Mel's a lovely man, but I don't phone him and say 'Hi, Dad'. That's what I say to Paul. He adopted
me and took responsibility for me." -Heather (on
her fathers) "I did not want Dad to be alone. I didn't want him to be a widower. After all, at the end of
the day, everyone wants everybody to be happy" -Mary "Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit— more than dad and I did. We had a great friendship going
and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad."
-Julian "Paul is
the father of my child and whatever he's done, whatever has happened, I can never speak badly about the father of my child.
We'll have a relationship forever. And I still love him. But you can love somebody and you're not right for each other and
you have to move on. Paul is a really, really good father." -Heather Mills "I wasn't
really surprised by the amount of coverage but I definitely kept out of it. I didn't read a lot of it," –Mary
(on her father’s divorce to Heather Mills) "Clearly,
there isn't as big a pressure on me as there is on my dad, I just have never looked at him and his name in the way everyone
else does. I distinctly remember when we were kids, and he'd play his guitar and we would say, 'Dad, can you shut up, we are
trying to watch television.' And he would then say: 'Do you kids know how many people out there actually appreciate my playing?'
Naturally, he's not Sir Paul McCartney to me, but just my dad who makes me laugh and smile." -Mary “My most significant achievement is my children, but it was easy achieving that.”
-Paul “I
show my little four-year-old a picture of herself when she was a baby, and it's freaky. My four-year-old puts it best. She
sees old pictures of me, let's say in the Beatles, and she'll say, "That's Daddy when he was different." I love that. It's
a great way of looking at it. And I suppose that's how I feel looking at those shows. That's me when I was different.”
–Paul "Paul and I have always exchanged
birthday and Christmas cards, and I last saw him in Las Vegas a couple of years ago." -Julian “Me
and Dad have a proper grown-up relationship now. I feel I was a kid for so long, but now we have both been through a lot.
We're both divorcés, for a start.” -Mary “To
me, he's my dad. So I don't look on him as the iconic Beatle Paul McCartney. Unless I'm seeing him perform and then I look
on him as a great performer and I'm really proud of him – but generally he is just Dad." –Mary "There's a collage pictures in the book that Dad made for
Paul and Paul made me a copy of. It was very sweet. And you know, he wrote 'Hey Jude' about me, so the connection with Paul
is pretty tight. I saw him when he played at London's Hyde Park this summer and I thought he was fab." -Julian “I’m just so excited when I’m around him. It’s
like when you see a white buffalo and you just hold your breath – you’re just hoping that it’s not going
to end. Because,’ he adds quietly, ‘it’s the closest I can come to hanging out with my dad. Every second
I’ve ever spent with Paul has been really meaningful to me. He was my dad’s best mate for a long time. And my
dad didn’t have many friends, you know?” –Sean "I just love
what I do. If I have a minute I'll write. I haven't got a lot of time, I spend half of my time looking after my seven-year-old.
Between my kids and my grandkids, they keep me busy. But if I get a minute when I get back from the school run I sit down
and think about writing a son. Nearly always something comes out. I'm still amazed and still in awe of the fact that I can
write a song." -Paul “I think, oh my God, he’s one of the few living
icons. I'm struck by that quite often, but not in an obsessed way. I mean, he’s my dad, it would be weird if I was like
‘oh wow’ all the time. But I'm not blind. I am incredibly proud" -Stella “I probably didn’t have permission to be a fashion designer because I had a famous set of parents,
even though I’d done the exact same training as every other fashion designer I’d known.” –Stella
“He's a genius, he's
beyond genius, and he's a big inspiration. Very intellectual and obviously amazing at what he does, so it's great fun. He
helps me get in tune with myself and be the best person that I can be.” –James
“You know, I accept
that he is a dad, too, and he has five children now, and I accept that that's a lot of kids. I guess I do have empathy. And
I have a lot of curiosity as to how my mom and dad did it and how that changes as you grow up. I have more questions for him
now that I am a parent and I have more understanding of it.” -Stella "I guarantee he’ll be back home doing the school-run
on Friday. Wherever Paul is in the world, it’ll be planes, trains and automobiles, just to pick Beatrice up. I’ve
seen him come off stage in Brazil, 100,000 people, get on a plane, fly straight to London, helicopter to Sussex, get in the
car, drive, school-run. That, for me, is the mark of the man. And age doesn’t come into it. He keeps us all going." -Scott Rodger (Paul
McCartney's manager)
“I’m very aware that what I need to do is what I need to do it has nothing to do with him. But, Paul and
I will go out and have coffee and we’re talking normal stuff, and as we say our goodbyes he’ll turn around and
this whole heap of people are like, caught in the headlights. And suddenly you realize just who this is. He’s so famous
and the light is so bright it’s just easier for me to go my own way. I don’t see it creating anything other than
expectation.” -Simon
“Dad’s really good fun to take pictures of, because he likes to make it interesting
for himself, he doesn’t just want to do a straight portrait. So he’ll mess around or say, 'Let’s do something
crazy with my hair.’ If I’m doing it, he knows it’s a safe environment and he can go further than he would
otherwise, so you may get that one unexpected shot.” -Mary
“He’s touring, he’s always creating
something, he’s always got ideas. It keeps him youthful” -Mary Linda McCartney
"Her strength,
her passion, everything that we are, all of it is in Mary, Stella, James, and me, and my dad" -Heather
"Some people may have their parents until they are
80, but few know what unconditional love is. I had it for 36 years" -Heather "Everybody always says that about their mums. Except my mum was just the best, that's all. It wasn't only
her clothes and style, but it was her personality, which was natural and real" -Stella "Every fashion designer will tell you they're inspired by their mother. Her style was a huge influence" -Stella "She would have loved some of the things I've done recently. She would have loved all my veggie shoes and
she would have dug the Adidas thing. She'd have loved the perfume. It's a bummer. At the weekend I really wanted to call her,
talk crap down the phone. I didn't have anything to say, just sort of babble. She was the classiest woman I know. And class?
You can't buy class, you know?" -Stella "She
wasn't like Jackie O- you don't think of her like that- but just the way she handled herself and the decisions she made and
the way she interacted with people was so fluid and natural and classy. It wasn't about her. It was about everyone else." -Stella "For me, vegetarianism is based on ethics. It's how I was brought up. My mum was very vocal and we were all
educated to understand why we weren't eating meat. But actually, now I look at it from all different angles, I think it's
very wrong to have the mass murder, every single day, of millions of animals." -Stella "She also adored her children. That was easy to see. She seemed to always listen to them and give of her time
and love." -Peggy Lipton "The way we were brought up, it was always drummed into me to respect and look out for animals, as they don't
have voices of their own. I'm unbelievably pround of everything she achieved. She would be so happy to know how much of an
inspiration she was to everyone here" -Mary (accepting
a Peta award) "As a photographer herself, she was my inspiration. I remember looking through her contact sheets as a child
and being fascinated. Our styles are similar." -Mary "Losing
my mother prematurely has had a profound impact on my life in that it has made me appreciate the people around me." -Mary "I was relatively lucky in that my mother was living almost normally
until the last few days of her life. I tried to spend as much time with her as I could." -Mary "At least my mum was able to live a full life and see her children grow up. I like to imagine she's up there
looking over us, making good things happen. But, try as I might, I'm not entirely sure that I believe it." -Mary "One of my mom's biggest talents, was making her subjects completely relaxed. I remember one picture she took
of Jimi Hendrix yawning. Here is this rock god, just hanging out and yawning. And that was the kind of moment she would get-
intimate and flattering." -Mary "The
whole reason why I got into photography, and I did this is because of my mum. She had a zest for life- having fun and always
wanting to go on adventures." -Mary
"We're working with them
now on coming up with ideas based on the recipes that mum had and the way she cooked. We're very hands-on. We want to do it
or her, the way she would have wanted it done." –Mary
(relaunching Linda’s frozen food range)
"She was also an amazing photographer. Much of her work launched Rolling Stone magazine and at the same time
she was very modest. If she had met the Queen, she would have been more interested in talking to the butler. That's just the
way she was." -Stella "Obviously, I am quite angry and upset about it. But I try
to look at the positive and think that we were lucky because she got to have kids and we all got to grow with her and I knew
her really well and we spent a lot of time with her.” –Mary "We had a great relationship. So I tried to hold on to that. It is never easy. It is horrible and sad and
depressing, just awful, but what do you do? Do you just sort of get lost in it -- which you can -- or do you just try to be
more positive? And generally I try to be more positive." –Mary "I like to moan and grumble and complain but at some point you have to stop and realise you were really lucky
to have had her. She was a really lively and quite unique person. She would try to look on the bright side. She had a really
full life. It is going to happen to all of us at some point." –Mary
"She was quite punky. She was ahead of her time – but
naturally so. It wasn't an act; that was just what she was like. She was strong but kind." –Mary
“We worked together a lot and we used to spend a lot
of time together. We'd meet up and go through contact sheets." -Mary “The thing about her is that she never blew her own trumpet and hence was pigeonholed as a celebrity
who dabbled in photography, which isn't how it was at all, The McCartney name made it possible for people to miss, or ignore,
just how good she consistently was.” –Mary "Linda was
a huge inspiration and influence on me and the kids. She still is. Stella really related to her and she still asks herself
what her mother would have done when faced with a dilemma. She was a funny ex-college girl with wit and a sense of fun." –Paul "I think about mum a lot now that I’m a mum too. I guess I feel her more around me. Like me, she was
a mother of four– Heather, Mary, James and me– and I didn’t notice her ever saying: ‘I’ve got
to manage this.’ It was all so effortless. She was incredibly easy and very real. So were her photographs. They were
never staged..." -Stella “She was a brilliant single mother– completely together. She would get me to school, go and do
a full day's work, get me back home, make sure I had eaten. I was lucky that I got to be there at that part of her life."
-Heather “We used to chat about our children over the phone. Linda was always loyal to her husband and very protective
of her children.” -Yoko “I think the biggest thing, the thing that is very hard, is that Mum was always there for me through
the insanity of life. She would call, and suddenly I would think ‘Yes, everything is all right.’ Mum was very
much like that- she kept everyone together. When people starting missing the point and didn’t know quite where they
were, she could join the pieces back together. It wasn’t until she died that I knew I would never again in my whole
life meet another woman with the strengths that she had.” -Heather
“My mum used to have a Mini Cooper. She had it custom-sprayed
this metallic hot pink. She had a little microphone put in it, and she would sing to her eight-track. And she had a bench
seat put in the front, and she’d always have four dogs in the back. My mum was renowned for collecting us late from
school. I’d be on the village lane in Peasmarsh, and all of sudden — yeeooww — racing around the corner
was this pink Mini with Neil Young screaming out.” -Stella
"I can't tell you how important
my mother was to me throughout all this time. I used to get in at night and she would have left a little message on my answering
machine saying: 'You are glorious for what you are and you are mine.'" -Heather
"I really admired the honesty in the way she wore clothes, she didn't give a toss what people thought. She
had a quirky style. She was rock 'n' roll. When everyone else was doing punk, she was doing grunge. And she wore a lot of
vintage stuff, a lot of 1940s tea dresses...I was very much attracted to her confidence in a really gentle vulnerable way,
like she wasn't trying to be anyone she wasn't. She was very vulnerable in her position as Paul McCartney's wife and she was
on stage with him to sort of be a wife and a mother, and she was living a public life, but in a really kind of weirdly un-public
way. You know, look at all the other wives of that period, they weren't cutting their own hair, they weren't wearing make
up..." -Stella
“She didn’t even realise what a food revolutionary she was. Vegetarian food ranges
are quite mainstream now, but when she started, it was completely unheard of to have a range like that. I think we’re
all quite proud of it, and we want to work to ensure it carries on her ethics.” -Mary
“We always talked about photography together and
I loved asking her about her early career, how Jimi Hendrix would phone her and ask her to visit the studio to take photos.
She would give me advice and because of those conversations I came to realise we had a lot in common in our styles and in
our character. Both of us love to be around people and to photograph different aspects of life. For me I could go from shooting
Kate Moss then to photograph the behind the scenes of an acrobat couple as they warm up to perform a dance on a tightrope.
Both of of us had a passion for observing life, waiting for something interesting to catch our eye” -Mary
“Probably the most famous one is of me as a baby in my dad’s jacket, which was on the cover of the McCartney
album. I love that picture because the light is that kind of sunset, orangey light in Scotland at the end of the day. And
I just love the story of it, how the reason I’m in his jacket is he zipped me up to go for a horse ride. It’s
weird, because it’s such an intimate family photo but it’s also such a famous photo” -Mary
“When I told my mum that I had decided to take photographs professionally, she gave me one of her cameras, which
was a 35mm Leica, so I used that a lot to start out with. I still use that camera” -Mary
“If either of us were taking pictures, or putting
film in to be developed, we’d phone each other. We’d be like, ‘How did the shoot go? Have you got the contact
sheets back?’ We both knew how it felt to wait for that moment. It’s part of the excitement of shooting on film.Are
the pictures going to be as good as you wanted them to be? Are they going to be better? It definitely gave us an extra connection.” -Mary
“I’m not sure. It was more her attitude I admired. She was feisty in her own way,
but not in a big, in-your-face way. I suppose she was quietly persuasive. It took me a long time even to get to that point.
I used to be so green when I started, almost apologetic. I’m more like her in the way I approach my personal projects:
just me and the camera and a few rolls of film. She gave me loads of advice all the time and I really miss that, chatting
and arguing over the contact sheets. I remember when I used to moan about missing a great moment, a great photograph, she’d
say: ‘Oh, don’t worry, it’s in your soul camera.’ I think she really believed that.” -Mary
“Mum liked doing music work when it was all free and easy, but when the lawyers and the
accountants took over, she lost interest. She was independent always. She did it on her own terms or not at all. Plus, she
had children. Children take over your life.” -Mary
“It’s an incredible archive. Mum never stopped
taking photographs, though it may have seemed that way to the public. It’s about 30 years’ worth of work. The
only gap is around the time when Stella and I were born when, as she said, she was up to her neck in nappies. Otherwise she
always seemed to have a camera in her hand” -Mary
“I think I’m lucky
because I have lots of her with me. Photography can evoke memories and I’m lucky to have her archive which is varied
and it can bring me back to connect with her” -Mary
“My mum was quite a wanderer. She had a real sense of adventure and a cheekiness to her,
which is something I like and that I try to take into my style of work. I remember once we went for an Indian lunch and I
grilled her about her early career in photography and particularly about the people she was hanging out with. I was like:
‘I can’t believe you photographed Jimi Hendrix!’ I was so jealous.” -Mary
“I hope I have inherited some of my mother’s technique. People felt really comfortable
having her take their pictures, she wouldn’t keep the camera in your face for very long, and I think people really warmed
to her. In terms of her style, she very much dressed herself and didn’t worry what people would think of her. She dressed
artistically, in a way that was quite funky and quite different. She was ahead of her time” -Mary
“I think then everyone was bitching her out but
now a lot of people look to her as ahead of her time and revolutionary. Or with her style, people would make fun of the way
she dressed and now lots of female musicians I meet are like, ‘Oh My God your mum was so cool.’ You look at footage
from the 1970s and think how groovy she looked. But at the time she was quite rebellious and didn’t really care what
people thought about her. She’d cut her own hair and wouldn’t want to shave her legs. She was real.” -Mary
Heather
Mills "I knew her because
they were married. But that's not really my relationship so I try to keep away from that in interviews and things.”
-Mary
My relationship
with Heather was not very good. I didn’t like her. But I wouldn’t want to say anything negative about her because
she’s a good mother to Beatrice and that’s the most important thing." -James
“It was a difficult
time. Dad was married to Heather and we didn’t get on. I don’t have a problem with Heather now because she is
Beatrice’s mum but at the time it was difficult for me, I was so into Kurt Cobain and this mentality so I didn’t
really like her. It was very difficult, I had my own issues." -James
“I never see Heather
but if I ever did see her I would have full respect because she is Beatrice’s mother” -James
“I sympathize with anyone going through a divorce. It’s very much their business
and not mine. I’m there to be supportive if I’m needed, but it’s better to try and keep out of other people’s
relationships.” -Mary
Nancy Shevell “I haven't actually met
Nancy, but my daughter says she's wonderful. Paul's got great
taste in women” –Heather Mills "I'm a cancer survivor,
I run a trucking company and I've got a 16-year-old to raise. That's stress." -Nancy “I wish Nancy
and Paul well, and that’s it. Nancy’s a great mother, and Paul treats my son very nicely.” -Bruce
Blakeman
"Nancy’s my
new mother. I feel that. Definitely. She’s very genuine. I knew her a year or so before she married Dad. She has been
one of the biggest supporters of me doing this, pursuing my own dreams. She wants me to have my own career. She makes Dad
very, very happy. We all adore her." -James
“His new wife
Nancy is great, she’s lovely and Dad’s happy. It is difficult to replace mum but Nancy is beautiful and wonderful.
Nancy’s my new mother. I feel that. Definitely. She’s very genuine. She makes Dad very, very happy. We all adore
her.” -James
“She’s really lovely, they’re very happy. She hasn’t done much press because she’s not
in the media. There’s no reason to do it. She’s a good family girl.” -Mary
Heather McCartney "She's
always been very talented that way. When she was very little, she started off as a potter and made pots and such, and she's
now moved into this interior-design world. She's been doing that for the last couple of years now, and I think she's brilliant-
but, then again, I would, wouldn't I?" -Paul "I
get along with the eldest, Heather, the most. We speak every day, and we're very very close, and she calls me the angel." -Heather Mills "It
was painful, but I knew it was the best for Heather, so she wouldn't be torn." -Mel
(about keeping his distance after Linda married Paul)
"Heather had two fathers." -Mel
"It's
very important for me. Important for my own individuality, for what I need for myself in the world. I've always felt I had
to be something for other people. And that led to trouble because it wasn't me I was doing it for. So it took me a long time
to get to the point where I am now" -Heather
"As a child, I was always the quiet one sitting in
the corner, questioning everything. When I toured with my parents, I'd be aware that there were some people who could just
pick up the phone and demand a backstage pass, while others, the kids, stay all night for tickets. It was their energy that
fired me, interested me." -Heather
"I thought once of changing my name, but that would have been arrogant
after what my parents have done for me, being my patrons and everything. Great names have been handed down to generations
before, so I guess we just have to be careful and treat it with respect" -Heather “I think relationships
are very hard. My Mum and Dad were married 29 years, and I know it wasn’t always easy. You have to work at it. I don’t
think anyone would share their life with me because I give people too much of a hard time. Maybe because I was originally
a single child, I am very independent and stubborn. I stick with what I know because that gives me confidence, but it also
means that anyone who comes into my life has to be very tolerant and very giving and generous. I’m very insecure, really,
so I do all the wrong things. I get jealous at the wrong time. I don’t normally wake up and put on my make up. I don’t
really do the ‘girl thing’ and I think that’s very hard for me.” –Heather
Mary McCartney "I'm really proud
of Mary. It's a great tribute to her talent. Her mother would, to say the least, have been incredibly proud of her- and she
probably is" -Paul "I'm rather complimented that Mary has caught my passion for photography" -Linda "I'm so proud of her. She's one of my best friends." –Paul
"The great thing about working with Mary
is that I trust her. We can have a giggle" -Stella “She
was so lovely, talented and really down-to-earth, it was great to meet her. I hate getting my photo taken, I’m quite shy in front of the camera, but she just made it fun." -Sharon
Hilditch
“It did affect me. The type of pictures I like are quite intimate and quite personal, but they are personal
in an invited way, I don’t want to go in and get a sneaky picture of something, I want someone to want me to come in
and take an intimate picture of them.” -Mary
“I think because of my upbringing when I meet a celebrity
they trust me quicker, because they know I have an understanding and understand it. But I think a lot of people think I’m
taking those pictures because they are my friends, and I’m friends with loads of celebrities, but that isn’t the
case. The pictures like the ones with the dancers? I work really hard to get the access for.” -Mary
“I like having pictures, but I feel very strongly you
have to allow and trust somebody to take your picture. Otherwise your family doesn’t have anything to look back on.” -Mary
“I have this hunger to observe people with interesting
characters and stories. When I photograph them, they do tend to open up to me, and suddenly I might hear a life story that’s
completely unexpected.” -Mary
“It’s not so much an evolution as a diary, because
I don’t think my style has really changed from the beginning until now. I think I went into photography knowing what
I loved, but now I have more confidence and am more technically aware.” -Mary
“I’ve always been interested in it, like when
I left school my first job was doing picture research for a music book company so it meant that I could go and make appointments
with photographers and look through their archives, so I always loved looking at other people’s pictures. But I think
I was intimidated because I just thought it would be quite a daunting career path, and then I kind of just got very excited
by it and did a photography course and saw it more as an adventure. I became quite collaborative working with other people
and meeting people and I’ve kind of grown and got a real confidence and style in the way that I approach things now” -Mary
“I try and keep my work and my family separate, and
I knew putting a show like this together would be a daunting, personal project. But once I started thinking about it, I started
enjoying it.” -Mary
“I was quite a late blossomer. Stella was always sketching
designs in bed, obsessed with fashion. But I was, like, ’I don’t really know what to do.’ And I think it
was partly because everyone in my family could take pictures, so I just presumed everyone could do that. And I grew up watching
mum taking them, and it seemed quite natural to her…” -Mary
"Mary is more like
a twin to me than an older sister. All my life she has been by my side. I can share everything with her without being judged.
Between her and me, we make 100 percent of our mum, and that makes my heart warm. She is my best friend."
-Stella
Stella
McCartney "Stella is doing great as a designer, and I love her
clothes. We went to her first Chloe show in Paris , and I was just so proud of her and the reaction she got" -Linda "She's
lovely, very nice, very clever, good designer" -Heather Mills "I
work because I grew up with a work ethic, in a family that worked. I have supported myself from the day I left college like
most people do" -Stella
"I'm always designing what I want to wear, but it's
a bummer because I have to wait six months" -Stella "I
feel the need to prove myself. People attack me because of my family and they think I'm a chancer. Every season, I'm shedding
this 'thing'. I probably will always question if people take me seriously, but that will keep me going." -Stella "I'm
so proud of Stella. I think it's just great how she has managed to carve out her own separate career. She's ever so talented
and I'm pleased she has done so well" -Sean "Stella,
I just bless and get some stuff from her place. She is doing a great job" -Yoko "I love her because I know
her from before she was born, so to speak, and she was a good friend of Sean's, and to me, the kids are nice."
-Yoko
“Stella is a very smart, very
brave girl, I must say I wondered how long she would last. I thought she might have to cave in, but she never did.”
–Paul
"Everyone is hugely influenced by their parents and their upbringing, no matter what, and of course my upbringing
helped shape my beliefs, some good and some bad, but I also developed my own causes."
-Stella
"I can honestly say this industry hasn't made me neurotic about my looks, except maybe my weight. I hope my
clothes kind of reflect that. They're meant to make you feel good, not give you more hang-ups." -Stella "I
am much more driven by the way that men or women choose the things that they wear and how it makes them feel good, how it
affects their mood. I try to take that on board. When I am designing I very much design each item rather than outfits. I am
not really a head-to-toe designer. Every piece is an object. I am very interested in the psychological aspects of what I do." -Stella “I didn't want to go into what my parents did because that would have been a story and people would
have talked about it. Also I liked fashion, but I used to get embarrassed about the fact I liked fashion. I'd sit at dinner
parties and people would say to me ‘So what do you do?’ and I'd be like ‘oh, design!’.” -Stella
“I
grew up with a name in my life and I know the importance of that name,” -Stella
"I
have a housekeeper, and a nanny, though I find that word jarring. I tell her, 'I just want to call you a friend. It is really
easy to get wrapped up in it and stress out about the kids, stress out about work. You have to constantly review it and say,
is this doable?" -Stella
“I’ve
actually never seen someone go from such a free spirit to such a kind of beautifully conventional, hard-working life as a
wife and mother. She was in full fun mode when I met her, and I just fell in love with her. She was shockingly honest. I always
say there’s this kind of hidden ghetto side to Stella. She’s tough. She doesn’t back down from someone who
might have less to lose than her.” -Gwyneth Paltrow
“Stella
is not competitive in the girl arena. She is a girlfriend.” -Tom
Ford
“I think Stella would crack up if she felt that
she wasn’t organized and was missing things with the kids; that would make her unhappy. And it’s not the way we
grew up.” -Mary
“There
are a lot of pressures. It’s overwhelming to leave the house sometimes. Even if I didn’t have kids, I would be
the same, but I think my brain is occupied with things other than fashion, fashion, fashion.” -Stella
“I
think Stella is associated with a value system — sustainability, moral values — that’s absolutely relevant
to the times. The other brands are just beginning to catch on to her values, but they don’t have the authenticity. So
the opportunity for her business to go into hotels and food...it’s not as if she’s fabricated these beliefs for
the sake of her business. People see that.” -Alasdhair
“I think that people are probably just more used to me now. My mom's dad always used to say it was important
to have staying power. And I've always really believed in that. My main thing with the brand, and as a human being, is to
have staying power. To not disappear.” –Stella
“I probably didn’t have permission to be a fashion designer because I had a famous set of parents,
even though I’d done the exact same training as every other fashion designer I’d known.” -Stella "I lose it sometimes. If I've had four hours' sleep
because I was at something late and up early with the kids, then I am not a particularly good mum and not a particularly good
colleague at work. Now we are expected to do everything, which probably isn't human, and we are in danger of burning out if
we try to do everything." -Stella "We respect each other, we enjoy each other's company and
she's my best friend. I love hanging out with her." -Alasdhair "Stella reminds
us so much of Linda" -Barbara and Olivia "She's an original
and Linda was an original. She had her own style. She didn't follow fashion, she took from fashion, and Stella's like
that. She cares about issues regarding women, fur, animal cruelty, but if she spilt something over her best dress she would
not care. Linda was the same way. I love people like that." -Barbara "I knew I didn't want to go into my parents' jobs because I didn't want to give anyone the credit of being
able to judge me openly. Which is ironic. But I didn't think I'd get particularly noticed. I thought I'd be able to slip under
the radar and just get on with it." -Stella "So many of my
childhood memories star my little sis, smiling, goofing, pushing each other around, falling out, making up. We understand
each other, we are there for each other- I would be lost without her." -Mary James McCartney "James is studying architecture
now, but neither Paul nor I would be surprised if he moves into music, as he has such a passion for playing"
-Linda "I thought it would
be a nice idea to play with him, as he's getting really good on guitar. When you've been in a band with someone for twenty
years, you read them and they read you. I thought "Well I haven't been in a band with James for all those years, but I've
known him for all those years. I've heard him play and he's heard me play. We've got so much in common that I bet we could
do it"" -Paul "My brother, James, is a very special person, a gently soul, and a brillant guitarist. He's going to have
problems, like I have." -Heather
"I have been playing music all my life really, but specifically when I was nine my dad brought me a three
quarter size little Martin junior guitar, with four strings. He taught me simple chords and I was able to start playing from
that point. But I think I have always been inspired to be a musician from when I was a little baby or for as long as I can
remember.” -James
"Music has always been a big part of my life, with my mum and dad's influence, being on tour as a child and
my whole family being very artistic and creative it was just a natural thing for me.” –James
"I
love the music. I love the art. It's intense. I just want people to become more aware of my music and enjoy it and maybe get
some crowds totally rocking." -James
"I wouldn't try to put him off because he loves his
music. Obviously I think he knows I know that it doesn't make it any easier for him having a famous dad who achieved so much.
But he loves making music and is a really great musician. When I heard he wanted to do it and he asked me to help, I said,
'Of course.' I helped co-produce his album which is coming out some time this year. I try to leave him to get on with it himself
and be independent. But I wouldn't discourage him." -Paul “I realized that I was somewhat better than other
kids at school at guitar and took pride and enjoyment in that. I then dreamt of being better than The Beatles. I'm not sure
if I can do that. If anything, I would love to be equal to The Beatles - but even that's quite tough.” –James
"I love the music. I love the art. It's intense. I
just want people to become more aware of my music and enjoy it and maybe get some crowds totally rocking." -James "I’m quite friendly with James, he’s really cool
and his music is really cool, too. He’s got a great voice. "
-Zak Arlen
Blakeman ------- Beatrice McCartney "I’m
really pleased about it. It`s great news and I`m looking forward to seeing the baby" -Mary
(during Beatrice's upcoming birth) "I
would love just like to have her in my bed and hold her and say 'No one touch her' and just protect her. But I'm just trying
to help her cope with life skills because eventually she's going to leave the nest."
-Heather Mills "I just wish someone would
care about little Beatrice because she will grow up and all this will always be there." -Ringo
(during the messy split of Paul and Heather) "She's
absolutely gorgeous. Heather and I are having a wonderful time. I could go on for hours and drag the photographs out, but
I'd never get back to the studio" -Paul "It's
been great fun for me. I love it. She is a delious little baby. But I don't really want to talk about that. I want to give
her the chance of a private life. If we were talking, just as guys, I'd go on talking about her endlessly. But with newspapers,
no matter what it is, Heather and I have a rule that we don't really talk about it. But yeah, it's great. She's great." -Paul "I
will travel abroad for Adopt-A-Minefield, but I've committed myself to my daughter. I've spent my whole life looking after
everyone else; I've got to put her first" -Heather Mills "I
don't want her growing up like a celebrity baby; it's hard enough being a McCartney child. All I will say is that she is the
light of my life and I am really happy." -Heather Mills "I
keep Beatrice so private. I don't understand when people put their children in the media spotlight. I don't agree with it.
It's just my personal opinion." -Heather Mills "My youngest daughter is
vegan, so I'm often looking for vegan food and I need to know if there's any dairy products. I prefer to think of it as caring;
it's a good thing, you do it for the right reasons." -Paul "She is the light
of my life, an absolute joy. I think when you have a child later in life, you appreciate it even more." -Heather
Mills "Whoever comes into
either of our lives is going to be very nice, and as long as Beatrice is happy, that's all that matters. She has always been
put first." -Heather Mills "If you want to make a difference, you just have to keep trying to do it. I want my daughter to grow up in
a world that has a chance." -Heather Mills
"I've talked to a lot of people about it and the great
thing that everyone says is you want to look at the positive that's come out of it, and the real positive is my beautiful
baby daughter. Both parents know that that is something great that came out of our marriage, even though the marriage didn't
work out. I don't want to say any more than that in order to keep some dignity about the situation." -Paul
"It's
great bringing up a five year old. I love her dearly and I'm very hands on, so I love the time I spend with her. She's in
education." -Paul
"I am a different dad now but it's good."
-Paul "My personal situation at the moment with
my little 5-year-old daughter gives me certain periods of time
when I can do what I want, which is the strange thing about divorce. On the one hand, you become a single parent suddenly.
But the upside of that is that it's changed the way I tour now. So this, we call it Summer Live, is a little series of dates
that are fitted in the gaps when I'm not being a dad. I love the balance. It's really nice. The other few days, I go home
and I'm dad, and when that period is over, I come back." -Paul "When
I have her, I want to be with her. I don't want to be on the road" -Paul "Now I can take her ice-skating and she's not going
to have a disabled mum that can't do anything with her.” –Heather
Mills “I look a lot busier than I am, as I'm actually a rather sporadic, random person and I'll play a few
gigs and then disappear for a while. I'm a pretty hands-on dad and make the most of my custody. I take care of my little one
whenever I can, and she determines what I can do and where I can do it.” –Paul
"She comes along but I keep her off camera because I
like to keep her life private for her and she decides what she does when she's older, but she's always on the side." -Heather Mills
(Beatrice attending 'Dancing On Ice')
“The really positive thing that came out of my marriage to Heather is our beautiful daughter, Beatrice.
Late fatherhood is great fun for me. I love it. Beatrice is a delicious little girl. She's great.” -Paul
“I
have a lovely little sister" –Mary
"I try not to talk too much about her. I keep her private but she's very cute." -Paul “The nice thing is, nowadays, I don't go off on a kind of three month schlep. I'll do a gig, and then
a couple of days later, another gig. And after a couple of weeks of that, I've got downtime with my little girl. So I'm looking
after her." -Paul "Because of my personal circumstances, I spend a lot of time looking after my six-year-old girl, and for that,
I'm a pretty hands-on dad. So I said to my promoter, 'These are the weeks I can work, and these are the weeks I can't work,
because I'll be getting up in the morning seeing my little one off to school and stuff,'"
-Paul "I only train when my daughter is with her father and when she's on holiday. When she is on holiday, she comes
skiing with me. Beatrice is a brilliant skier. Every year we are on the snow, she is racing past me. She is a miracle child
anyway as I was not meant to have kids so seeing her on the slope next to me is like fairyland." -Heather
Mills
"Beatrice is adorable.
She’s great, a real joy for the whole family." -James
"The baby's lovely, really beautiful. I think she looks like
both of them." -Michael McCartney
“I never thought I could have children – I had
so many miscarriages and in the end I had her. We are incredibly close. She’s very smart, very loyal and she wants to
be a marine biologist. We spent two weeks in the Arctic recently looking for narwhals. She’d asked to go two years ago
and I told her she could go when she was ten but only if she worked really hard in science at school. She said nothing for
two years then came up and said, ‘I’m ten and I got straight As in school – can we go and see the narwhals?’
We went up to the Arctic, we were there for a week, no change of clothes, in this incredible freezing white space, a group
of people who’d been there before us had seen nothing and I was just praying we’d see maybe just one. One turned
up on the day we got there, then hundreds of them. She was just smiling saying, ‘I knew they’d come.’” -Heather Mills
"She is the most incredible kid. I can’t say she isn’t privileged but she is definitely not spoilt.
Every morning she makes her own breakfast, she makes me tea, she sorts out her things for school. She’s a really special
girl and despite everything, I wouldn’t have had her without her dad." -Heather Mills
“I’ve got a life I love, I’ve got an incredible
daughter and I’m happy” -Heather Mills
“Beatrice says she’s 99% me. I don’t know
if that’s a good thing. I think she’s got the best of both of us, we’re both very musical. I taught her
the saxophone, because her father can’t read music so I do all the music teaching, and I’m good with languages.
She’s a brilliant poet so obviously gets that from him, but I think she’s got the best of both of us.” -Heather Mills
“Beatrice hates fame and the whole limelight thing. She wants to be a marine biologist, not a pop star.” -Heather Mills
"I rarely talk about my daughter. I'm really proud of the fact that I have kept her image protected. She's not
mixing in celebrity lifestyles. She's not out in public places." -Heather Mills
"I get my campervan out jump in there with my daughter we
go round Croatia, all around Italy. We just park it up anywhere and jump in the lake, do a bit of cooking and get out every
day, living the rucksack life. It's brilliant, it puts your feet back on the ground, puts you back in nature." -Heather Mills
"She found it on one holiday in Long Island and she gave it to me as a charm to keep me safe,
I never go anywhere without it The only thing I squeezed into a pocket was my little pebble from Bea." -Heather Mills (about her good luck charm- a heart shaped pebble)
Alasdhair Willis "I
have never felt like this before. It's just fantasic, an absolute dream"
-Stella "He is
a darling, he's a catch, a real catch" -Heather Mills
“One of the smartest things she has ever done is choose Alasdhair as her husband and the father of her
kids. They complement each other. He’s Northern, very practical — not buttoned-up, but he’s not like an
American guy talking about his feelings all over the place. She’s like a firecracker.” -Gwyneth
Paltrow
“He's
an amazing man. I'm very much in love with him.” –Stella
“We definitely had chemistry pretty early on.
I mean, we met and then we were on a date that evening.”
–Stella Simon
Aboud “It is pretty cool. I mean, I reckon there are few
directors that Paul McCartney would walk up to and say, ‘Hey, do you like any of these songs?” -Simon Grandchildren
"My grandkids always beat me at Rock Band. And I say, Listen, you may beat me at Rock Band, but I made the original records,
so shut up." -Paul "You just remember
it all again. I suppose the thing is, your grandchildren are different from your own children. Time has passed. Now they are
all on screens. Should kids be on screens all the time? There's new stuff around that weren't for my kids. So that's what
you learn from becoming a granddad...you learn how to operate a computer." -Paul
Arthur &
Elliot Donald and Sam & Sid Aboud (by Mary) "He's
brought a lot of joy into the family. A grandchild immediately ennobles a lot of people. He makes me into a Granddad, he makes
my son into an Uncle and he makes my daughter into an Auntie. He's really lovely, we're all really proud of him- he's a good
looking boy" -Paul (on
Arthur) "If
I have one great sadness, it's that my mother never got to meet my two wonderful sons, Arthur and Elliot" -Mary "My daughter,
Mary, for instance, has just had a baby and I see that as a miracle. It's not a religious miracle but it still is a miracle
for me!" -Paul
(after Sam's birth) "My children are vegetarians but they don't have to be. It would be their choice. I don't like to force it
on people. I don't like to be told what to do, so I don't like to tell them what to do" -Mary
“It's always mayhem with three boys, a dog and
two hamsters. But I love the mayhem. I grew up in mayhem and I've kind of carried it on.” –Mary
“Oh yeah, I’d definitely be supportive. The thing
is, they’ve all good a really good eye. We’ll see! I think they’re all interested in artistic areas, but
I don’t think any of them have particularly decided on a career path yet, but if they decided that’s what they
want to do, I would definitely sort of try and impart some of my experience over the years” -Mary
“When he cries, tears practically fly out of his eyes.
There’s almost a little puddle on the ground afterward. I took a close-up black-and-white picture of him when he was
a baby, and you see two little teardrops coming from each eye. That for me sums up a lot of the feelings: this bright-eyed
innocence, but also this sadness, which is kind of what I think of when I think about my mother” -Mary (about Sam)
“There’s not a lot of pink in my home, definitely.
But I like the chaos, luckily.” -Mary
Miller, Bailey, Becket & Reiley Willis
"I
want it to be a natural thing- I want the surprise" -Stella
(while pregnant with Miller) "Hopefully I'll be
living in the country and they'll go to normal school and nobody will know about them" -Stella "I found that when
you have a baby, they are so pure and untouched that a car goes past and you look at all the pollution and you really want
to protect them." -Stella (on
Miller) "As
they get older and more robust you sort-of forget about it but you only want to put pure cotton next to their skin. And you
worry." -Stella "I always have an incredible team and I think it's important to try and strike a balance - to
have a healthy balance. So when one child starts to scale out another, you kind of know when to pay the other a little more
attention. The kids always have to come first." -Stella
"I
had a four-day rule when I first had Miller and then it slowly went to three days and two days. I get really agitated when
I'm away from the kids for too long. I'm excited to have gotten to where I can take the kids with me now sometimes." -Stella
"Bailey really didn't understand women had to throw themselves under horses to get the vote, and I hope she
doesn't ever have to understand it. But, at the same time, now we are expected to do everything, which probably isn't human,
and we are in danger of burning out if we try to do everything." -Stella "My kids have always been veggie. I just make them eat it anyway! I'm like, 'You know, just each it!'" -Stella "I
love seeing them with Grandpa, or Granddude, as they call him, they're really proud of him and they get excited by it."
-Stella
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