2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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rachelsylvester
3557037
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# Linda McCartney's tough for Nancy to follow
By Liz Hunt 12:01AM BST 08 Apr 2008
[Comments][1]
Was it proof of her endorsement by his family, or simply a statement of her
intent that, as the new romantic interest in his life, she's here to stay?
Nancy Shevell, the woman reported to be more than just good friends with Sir
Paul McCartney, was snapped by paparazzi in New York last week bearing a
carrier bag emblazoned with the name of his fashion-designer daughter, Stella
McCartney.
* ** [Read more from Liz Hunt][2] **
Surely, it must be more than a coincidence, following on so soon from Miss
Shevell and Sir Paul's holiday together in Antigua which had tabloids aflutter
as the love-struck pair frolicked in the waves? And certainly there is
something rather calculated about this shot of the glamorous Nancy with that
particular bag - Stella has a long-held and widely-known dislike of her
father's ex-wife, Heather Mills.
The timing is spot on, for sure. Its publication coincides with a poignant
tribute by Sir Paul to Linda, his first wife, ostensibly to mark the tenth
anniversary of her death from breast cancer and a new exhibition of her
photographs.
Not since her death aged 56, on April 17, 1998, when he described his "total
heartbreak", has the former Beatle spoken so revealingly about their
relationship. Could it be that he is seeking to erase the poison generated by
his bitter divorce from Mills by focusing public attention once more on the
defining love story of his life?
Writing in a Sunday magazine, he recalled his first meeting with Linda, his
"corny" attempt at chatting her up - "My name's Paul. What's yours?" - and how
Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale became their song after their first date.
## Related Articles
* [McCartney's surprise appearance][3]
18 Apr 2011
She was, he said, "genuinely a woman" and very different from the "girls" he'd
been dating. "She was always very beautiful…beautiful hands, absolutely no
make up, just the structure of the face… I was genuinely impressed by the way
she handled herself in life. She just knew how to do it."
He also explained how he and their four children kept from Linda the fact that
her illness was terminal. "She didn't know she was dying. I'm not actually
sure she ever knew she was dying… She was fighting right up to the end." It is
desperately moving - and a subtle act of revenge on Mills. He seems to be
saying: "Forget her. This was the woman I really loved."
Now that Macca is single again, any woman wanting to follow in Linda's
footsteps should consider herself warned. It will be the toughest of acts to
follow. So what chance does Nancy Shevell, a 47-year-old meat-eating
Republican, who is said to possess a collection of crocodile-skin handbags,
have against the ghost of the vegetarian liberal Linda, who adored animals?
Well, she has one obvious advantage in that she actually knew Linda. She and
her husband Bruce Blakeman - from whom she is legally and amicably separated -
were good friends with the McCartneys. They became even closer when, a year
after Linda's diagnosis, Nancy was diagnosed with breast cancer, too.
She has her own fortune, hailing from a wealthy New York family, as indeed
Linda did, and her own career as vice-president of a family freight firm. No
one could accuse her of being a gold-digger. She also knows and is liked by
all four of the McCartney children, who nicknamed her "Jackie O" because of
her style and her penchant for enormous sunglasses. That bond was reinforced
when she joined with them in counselling Sir Paul against marriage to Mills.
Quite how they feel now that Nancy is their father's girlfriend has yet to be
established. But if Stella approves - and that shopping trip was surely
telling - she's on her way.
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