McCartney’s long and winding road leads to a locked door
By Beth Teitell
Boston Herald Columnist
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
So, in case you missed the latest salvo in the seamy divorce of ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and his lovely, nekkid-posing, estranged missus Heather - he changed the locks. As in she-went-to-the-house-couldn’t-get-in changed the locks. Looks like the honeymoon period of their divorce proceedings really is over.
What a lovely time the initial separation was, though. Remember his chivalry, jumping to her defense when the press called her a gold digger? And how their relationship seemed more amicable than those of many couples not filing legal proceedings against each other. ‘‘Both of us still care about each other very much,” they said in a joint statement back in May. In fact, they had only one problem: the media. As they explained, it’s been ‘‘increasingly difficult” to maintain a normal relationship with the ‘‘constant intrusion into our private lives.”
The press should be their biggest problem. Because, as surely as amicability yields to animosity, there’s plenty of ‘‘intrusion” to go around. And accusations:
He refused to let her use his helicopter to get to a doctor’s appointment. She drained their bank account. He’s a bore. She’s rude. He’s angry that she (well, her maid) took three and half bottles of cleaning fluid from his London home to clean her office. She bugged his home phone. He’s dropping out of an Adopt-A-Minefield benefit. She’s preventing Stella from visiting her half-sister. He held a big champagne bash to celebrate the split.
Sounds like ‘‘The War of the Roses” movie with British accents.
It’s only a matter of time before she throws his clothes out the window and he hurls the china.
After I read about how Heather either laughed off the lockout or was upset - depending on who was doing the spinning - I wondered what a pro would make of the situation. I called Flying Locksmiths to get an insider’s assessment of Paul’s move.
‘‘I didn’t realize he’d changed the locks on her,” Barry McMenimon, vice president of sales began. I expected him to talk about the numerous divorce-related calls they’d made, but instead he turned reflective. ‘‘It’s pretty sad. You love someone enough to marry them, and somehow you get to the point where you don’t trust them.” He paused to let the sorrow sink in. ‘‘I hope I never experience it.”
’Tis better to have loved and latched, than never to have loved at all, I suppose.
But one can’t help but think that Paul’s move falls in the too-little, too-late category. I mean, sure, he can keep Heather from sneaking in the house to swipe the After Eights from the candy dish - but that doesn’t change the fact that she didn’t sign a prenup.
‘‘With a Little Luck” indeed.
