DEATH OF LINDA MCCARTNEY
Paul having a hard time still
Parade Magazine 10/31/99 says that Paul is not doing well..."judging
from our observation at a
recent gala in L.A. for People for the Ethical
Treatment of animals, where Paul McCartney, 57,
presented an award in Linda's
honor to Pamela Anderson Lee. During a video showing Paul and
Linda playing with
animals, the former Beatle wept inconsolably. Then he told the
audience--including stars like Alec Baldwin and Ellen DeGeneres--about his
wife's courage as an an animal activist 'in the face of all us carnivorous men'
and her final days 'when we put on a brave face.' though he said Linda
would want him to get on with his life, it's clear that Paul is still struggling
to put on that brave face for the world".
Paul still grieving 10/19/98
LONDON (Reuters) - Paul McCartney says he's still coming to terms with the loss of his wife, Linda, who died in April after losing her fight against breast cancer. The former Beatle tells the Daily Mail "it is the little things that really get you" -- such as the times he thinks he'll give her a call, only to be jolted back into reality. McCartney, who was married to Linda for almost 30 years, says about a week before she died, he knew she only had days to live. He says doctors urged him to tell her, but he confesses "I didn't want to tell her because I didn't think she'd want to know."
Ex-Beatle McCartney Grieves for Wife By Jill Serjeant Reuters LONDON
(April 20) -
Grief-stricken former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney was in mourning on Monday
at his
southern England home after the death from cancer of his American wife Linda
at the age of
56. McCartney, who had spent only one night apart from Linda in their 29-year marriage,
was described by friends as ''shipwrecked.'' Linda McCartney died in Santa Barbara,
California, on Friday after the breast cancer diagnosed in 1995 spread to her liver last
month. ''Paul is absolutely shipwrecked but his bravery is astonishing. He told me 'We
will never get over it but we will have to get through it.' He is surrounded by his
children,'' television writer and close friend Carla Lane told The Sun newspaper.
McCartney was closeted in the
farmhouse home in the southern English county of Sussex, which he shared with Linda and
from which she built up a successful vegetarian food business. The couple's three grown-up
children, Mary, Stella and James, were with him. His spokesman appealed for privacy,
saying McCartney would not be making any statement until Thursday at the earliest.
McCartney was at his wife's bedside when she died. The couple had been out horse-riding
only two days beforehand. ''The blessing was that the end came quickly and she didn't
suffer...Anyone who knows the family knows how close and loving they are. So this is a
devastating blow to all of them and they have asked to be left in peace to grieve in
private,'' McCartney's spokesman, Geoff Baker, said. McCartney has asked that instead of
sending flowers, people could make a donation to cancer research or animal welfare
charities -- or simply ''go veggie (vegetarian),'' his office said. Funeral arrangements
have not yet been made public. Linda McCartney was a lifelong vegetarian who developed her
own line of vegetarian foods. She was also a lover of animals, photography and music.
Throughout their life together she photographed her husband, campaigned with him for
various causes and made music with him -- from his immediate post-Beatle days to his most
recent album ''Flaming Pie,'' in which they sang on some tracks together.
Tributes poured in on Monday to the
woman who drove Beatles fans to tears when she married McCartney in March 1969. She was an
American socialite photographer; he the singer-songwriter in the most famous pop band in
the world. After the break-up of the Beatles, Linda joined McCartney's new band Wings, as
a keyboard player and backing singer and braved taunts that she could neither play nor
sing. Their hits included the best-selling album ''Band On The Run.'' The group's single
''Mull of Kintyre,'' recorded in 1977, is one of the world's biggest selling singles.
Former Wings drummer Denny Seiwell said the pair were inseparable. ''His security was
Linda...having her there all of the time was very important to him. He was let down in the
whole Beatle breakup thing, he had an ill feeling from that whole period. Linda was a
security blanket for him. They had great love for each other,'' he said on Monday. Linda
had thought she had beaten the breast cancer, telling an interviewer only two months ago.
''I'm back.'' She told Britain's OK magazine that she and McCartney were like lovestruck
teenagers. ''We're doing those little things together that you do when you're first dating
-- going to the theatre or just walking hand in hand through the fields,'' she said. Linda
McCartney made her first public appearance after her cancer treatment last October, when
she accompanied McCartney to the London premiere of his first full-blown orchestral work,
the symphonic poem ''Standing Stone.'' 
As soon as the performance finished, the McCartneys were off to Paris to see
daughter Stella's fashion show for French design house Chloe. British Prime Minister Tony
Blair, who was traveling in Jerusalem when the death was announced on Sunday, was one of
the first to pay public tribute. He issued a statement saying he and his wife Cherie were
very saddened by the news. ''Linda showed extraordinary courage throughout her illness,''
Blair said. ''She made a tremendous contribution across a whole range of British life.''
McCartney said last year that when he met his future wife ''she was just different. She
was a woman. The others were girls ... I just went for her in a big way. That was it.
We've never looked back.'' Reut08:42 04-20-98 Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights
reserved
