Heather Mills reportedly “struggled” to live in the shadow of ex-husband Paul McCartney’s late wife Linda, as he kept a shrine to her in their home.
Former model Heather, 55, met Sir Paul, 80, just over a year after his first wife Linda had died of breast cancer.
Allegedly introduced by Piers Morgan, 58, at the Pride of Britain Awards in London in May 1999, the two quickly started dating before getting hitched in a star-studded wedding in Glaslough, Ireland, in 2002.
Rather than buy somewhere new, the couple lived together in the house he had shared with Linda for 25 years in Rye, East Sussex.
Heather gave birth to their daughter Beatrice, now 19, in 2003, however just three years later they announced their separation before their acrimonious divorce was finalised in 2008.
Described as “volatile” from the start, Macca has previously called their union as one of the biggest mistakes of his life.
In 2009 he was asked if their marriage was his worst error in the last decade, he replied: “OK, yeah. I suppose that has to be the prime contender.”
However, discussing the delicate situation in a new documentary - The Trials of Heather Mills on Channel 5 - author Pamela Cockerill has lifted the lid on the early days of the couple’s marriage.
Pamela, a confidante of Heather’s and ghost writer of her biography Out On A Limb, said: “I think Heather found it quite hard to live in the same house that, only a couple of years before, Linda had been living in.
“And the house hadn't been changed that much. [Linda] was an inescapable presence because obviously, she was a big part of Paul's life.”
She continued: “There were little plaques saying ‘I love Linda’ over the doorways and photos of her around.
“It must have been very hard to deal with.”
Sir Paul and Linda bought the house together in Rye, East Sussex in 1973, which saw them raise their children Mary, 53, Stella, 51, and James, 45.
It was also home to Linda's daughter Heather from her first marriage to Joseph Melville See Jr.
Howard Sounes, writer of the biography Fab: An Intimate Life Of Paul McCartney, also revealed in the documentary: “I'm sure it must have been very difficult for Heather to move into the life of a man who had been famously happily married for years.
“They had children together and I'm sure he was still in love with Linda. He probably hadn't got over it.
“He kept Linda's ring on until the day before he married Heather.”
Heather’s pal Pamela also revealed that Sir Paul and Heather's relationship had been “volatile from the beginning”.
She said: “They were such strong characters.
“They were both used to having their own way. Before they got married, there was a big row in a hotel room in America and [Heather's] engagement ring got thrown out of the window.
“I don't know who flung it out, but the next day, the staff were all going round with metal detectors and they recovered the ring.”
The couple’s divorce deal was made up of a lump sum of £16.5million plus assets and property, worth around £7.8million.
That was reached after the judge decided Sir Paul was worth around £400 million, less than half the £825 million previously thought.
Sir Paul, who had offered £15.8million to Heather, was additionally ordered to pay £35,000-a-year maintenance for Beatrice on top of her school fees.
Heather - who vowed to never walk down the aisle again following her split with Paul - reportedly remarried in 2021.
She was said to have tied the knot with businessman boyfriend Mike Dickman, then 36, in a private ceremony.
The pair first met as strangers on a train, where the mum-of-one handed him a flirty note that read: "I think you're hot. Email me."
They went public in 2019 and two years later, it's believed they got engaged on the palm fringed sand at the Anantara resort.
Heather's rumoured new husband apparently runs in showbiz circles and counts many of the Made in Chelsea crowd - including Georgia 'Toff' Toffolo - as pals.
The Trials of Heather Mills is available to watch on Channel 5.
