Heather Mills Biography

Birth Name: Heather Anne Mills

Date of Birth : January 12, 1968

Birth Place : Washington, Tyne and Wear, England

Occupation : Businesswoman, media personality, former model 

Heather Mills, born on January 12, 1968, in Washington, Tyne and Wear, England, is no stranger to adversity. Her father, Mark, a former paratrooper, was abusive toward Heather and her family. When Heather's mother managed to escape, 9-year-old Heather Mills was left to care for her younger brother and sister whilst living with their father. 

When Heather Mills was 13, her father was imprisoned for fraud, and she went to live with her mother and her mother's new boyfriend, with whom the young teenager didn't get along. Headstrong Heather Mills soon ran away to live on the street. Later, she was arrested for stealing jewelry from the London store where she worked, and she was put on probation.

Back in London to raise further funds for the project, Heather found her life changed forever when, in August 1993, she was hit by a speeding police motorcycle as she stepped off a curb. The accident cost her the lower half of her left leg. 

Suddenly, as an amputee, she found herself in a similar situation to the war refugees on whose behalf she had so tirelessly campaigned. Despite her own private distress, she continued to work with the disabled, organising a programme to send discarded prosthetic limbs abroad. 

Heather was presenting at a charitable awards ceremony at London's Dorchester in May 1999 when she met the man who would change her life - former Beatle Paul McCartney. Clearly affected by the blonde activist's presentation the musician later got in touch. 

Their shared passion for charity work led to romance - much to Heather's surprise. "I thought he was very cute but it didn't enter my head that he fancied me," she said later. The couple became engaged during a visit to the Lake District and tied the knot in front of 300 guests at a church in the grounds of Ireland's 17th-century Castle Leslie on June 11, 2002. A daughter, Beatrice Milly McCartney, was born the following year on October 28, 2003. 

In July 2006, McCartney filed the divorce papers against Mills claiming unreasonable behaviour. In October 2007, Mills broke her silence and began a round of interviews on UK and American television, back lashing at the hype over her impending divorce. She hit the headlines after an emotionally charged interview on British breakfast programme GMTV, when she accused a “certain corner” of feeding spin to the media to smear her.