Some couples fight over money, sure, but usually it's over whether they can really afford to remodel the kitchen or buy that new flat-screen TV..
Not Heather Mills and Paul McCartney.
Heather was on "The Today Show" this morning and she told Matt Lauer that the thing the former couple fought about the most was that she wanted him to give more of his massive fortune to charities.
“How can anybody have that kind of money and not do more for charity?” she asked. “That’s what we argued about all the time.”
In contrast to Wednesday's tearful appearance on British television when she said she had been suicidal, Mills was composed when talking with Lauer via sateillite from London. She told him that she had spoken to McCartney two days ago to tell him of her plan to go public to try and clear her name after 18 months of negative press. She said he initially told her to do what she had to do but then phoned her to tell her it wasn't such a good idea.
Mills, who appeared on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" last season, told Lauer that their divorce proceedings have dragged on for 18 months for reasons other than money.
“I insist on being cleared,” she said. “Money — that’s the least of my interests. I have to clear my name....When we first split, I said to Paul, ‘I’m going to be crucified. I’m going to have a modern-day stoning. You know why we split, you know the truth.”
Mills said she told him to stand up and say, “‘I’m responsible for the breakup of this marriage.’” She said she was willing to walk away with nothing at that point if the former Beatle had done that.
Mills said she has received death threats which put their daughter, Beatrice, at risk because she spends so much of her time with her. She said McCartney has done nothing to try and stop the media assault against her.
“I pleaded with him for 18 months,” she said. “I said, ‘You’ve never had any bad press. How do you think Beatrice is going to feel about this when she’s 12 or 13, reading that you allowed this to continue? How do you think she’s going to feel about that?’”
Lauer asked Mills that, given McCartney's iconic status as a former Beatle, didn't she know what she was getting herself into?
“I fell in love with a man, not a Beatle,” she replied. “I fell in love with a man who chased me for three months. He was a broken man when I met him. I was a huge support for Paul.”