2008: That was the Beatles year that was: The McCartney divorce

December 20, 9:19 PMBeatles ExaminerSteve Marinucci

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(If you were a Beatle fan, you have to admit 2008 was a strange year in regard to news from the Beatles. There was great news and there was weird news. This is one of a series of items we're writing as a review of Beatle news from the past year.)

Paul McCartney's relationship with Heather Mills started out as a fairy tale romance and ended up as the marriage from hell. But on March 17, 2008, it was over. The judgment in the case of James Paul McCartney vs. Heather Anne Mills McCartney, 58 pages long, was released to the internet shortly after it was filed.

It was much more critical of Mills than McCartney, with the judge Mr. Justice Bennett writing, "I wholly reject her account that she rekindled the husband's professional flame and gave him back his confidence" and "I accept that since April 2006 the wife has had a bad press. To some extent she is her own worst enemy. She has an explosive and volatile character."

But he was also critical of both parties, saying, "I regret to say that I strongly suspect that the motives of both wife and husband in trying to introduce the conduct of each other into these financial relief proceedings has got far more to do with the impending libel trials than the instant proceedings."

In the end, Mills was awarded £24.3 million pounds (roughly $36.4 million now; it was worth $48.9 million in March when the settlement was finalized, according to the New York Times) for her welfare and that of Paul and Heather's daughter, Beatrice.

Heather did not go away gently. As the proceeding ended, she reportedly threw water in the face of Paul's lawyer, Fiona Shackleton. The Huffington Post reported Mills had said Shackleton had been "baptized in court".