Heather: Fans put strain on Macca marriage

The new wife of Sir Paul McCartney has revealed how their marriage has been placed under strain by "jealous" female fans who adore the former Beatle.

Heather Mills McCartney, 34, said she was shocked and angry at the hostility expressed towards her by Sir Paul's army of ageing admirers - more than three decades after the height of the Fab Four's fame.

Speaking in her first indepth interview since the wedding two months ago, she said: "It's mainly from female Beatles' fans around Paul's age. Even now they're jealous that I'm with everyone's favourite Beatle."

His new wife is certainly not the first of his lovers to feel the wrath of his fans. His first wife Linda Eastman, who died of cancer in 1998, became a hate figure for thousands of young women after the couple's marriage 33 years ago.

The new Lady McCartney says she sees 60-year-old Sir Paul as a "Peter Pan" figure who behaves as if he were the youngest man she had ever met. She tells Prima magazine: "He's so sweet, so energising. When you see him walking down the street he literally skips, just like a little boy. In many ways, he's definitely the youngest man I've ever been out with."

Giving an insight into the couple's private life, she went on: "We're together six days a week. We sit down and go through our diaries together each month and we don't do anything if it takes us away from each other."

She said she had learned to "slow down" since her marriage to Sir Paul, who is worth an estimated £700 million. "Paul insists there are times when I switch the phone off. In the evening I cook and we eat together and talk - that's been very good for me."