Heather Mills McCartney to sue newspapers over divorce claims

Heather Mills McCartney

LONDON - Heather Mills McCartney is to sue two newspapers over "false, damaging and immensely upsetting" statements over her divorce battle with former Beatle Paul McCartney, her lawyers said on Tuesday.

The lawyers said the 38-year-old charity campaigner had been vilified in the media and was being stalked by photographers.

One of the most high-profile divorce cases in showbusiness history turned bitterly acrimonious last week when legal papers were leaked.

The document, apparently prepared by Heather's lawyers, contained allegations that Paul mistreated his wife during their tempestuous four-year marriage.

Lawyers Mishcon de Reya named the Daily Mail and the Evening Standard as the subject of legal proceedings. Legal action will also be taken shortly against the Sun tabloid.

Mishcon de Reya said Mills could not afford to sue all the newspapers she wanted to.

"Her time and resources are not infinite. She cannot sue - for now at least - every single newspaper that has published false, damaging and immensely upsetting statements about her," they said in a statement.

The lawyers denied reports that Mills had been offered a 30 million pound settlement ($85 million). McCartney's fortune has been estimated at 825 million pounds.

The statement said: "She is pursued everywhere she goes. She is stalked by press photographers who congregate outside her home and chase after her in cars - regardless of her safety or the safety of her daughter."

The collapse of the couple's marriage has been front page news in Britain, where Paul McCartney is an icon and to many, a national treasure.

He has pledged to fight "vigorously and appropriately" the allegations made against him.

McCartney, 64, and former model Mills announced their separation in May, blaming media intrusion for the failure of their marriage.

The divorce has turned into a public battle for sympathy fought out under a glaring media spotlight.

The couple's legal teams are a mirror reflection of modern Britain's most famous divorce. McCartney hired the legal firm which attended Britain's Prince Charles and Mills has hired the firm which represented Princess Diana when the two royals split.

At first McCartney and Mills said that for the sake of their baby daughter the break-up would be amicable.

But since then, celebrity-obsessed tabloids have been peppered with lurid tales of a raucous marriage and break-up.

- REUTERS