Photographer, activist, rockstar heartthrob, singer, songwriter, mother. Linda McCartney had many important roles in this world. Who'd have thought marrying a Beatle would be one of her more mundane accomplishments?
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00:00Photographer, activist, rock star heartthrob, singer, songwriter, mother — Linda McCartney
00:06had many important roles in this world.
00:09Who'd have thought marrying a Beatle would be one of her more mundane accomplishments?
00:13Many stories of the rich and famous start with a sort of character-shaping childhood
00:17that's filled with struggles, uncertainty, and tragedy.
00:20But the future Linda McCartney didn't have much of that at all.
00:23While her father, the Bronx-born Leopold Epstein, was the son of a poor immigrant family who
00:28had made their way to the States seeking a better life, his success in adulthood ensured
00:32that Linda would grow up comfortably.
00:35Linda's mother Louise, on the other hand, came from an already well-to-do background
00:38when they married.
00:39In Howard Soon's book Fab!
00:41An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney, he describes Linda's upbringing as privileged.
00:46Her family had an East Hampton beach house for getting away from their homes in Westchester
00:50and on Park Avenue.
00:51She had had a hit song written about her, which was notably re-recorded by Jan and Dean,
00:56and her siblings were the sort that married into families that traced their lineage to
00:59the founding fathers.
01:01If there was anything difficult about her childhood, it was her relationship with her
01:04father.
01:05As Linda demonstrated more interest in animals than academics, her attorney father's response
01:10was to ridicule her.
01:11By the time she was a teenager, she found another escape in rock music.
01:15Her New York City home was perfect for seeing stars, and it wasn't long before she was given
01:20backstage tours and even attended recording sessions for groups like the Young Rascals.
01:25Linda Eastman was born in 1941, and like many women of the era, she married young.
01:30She was dating the Princeton-educated geologist Joseph Melville C. Jr., a man rumored to have
01:35inspired the character of JoJo in the Beatles' tune, Get Back.
01:39Whether or not this is true, he did move to Arizona for grad school like his Get Back
01:43namesake, and Linda followed.
01:45According to Soons, Arizona would remain one of her favorite places for the rest of her
01:49life.
01:50Although she studied art history, according to the Danny Fields biography Linda McCartney,
01:54she was much more interested in the state's horse culture.
01:58While she was living in the Southwest, her family suffered a massive tragedy.
02:02Linda's mother was killed in a plane crash.
02:05After briefly returning to her devastated family, she opted to leave again for Arizona.
02:09She recalled in a later interview,
02:11"'It was a kind of escapism.
02:13I was very immature.
02:15I just escaped.'"
02:16She married the boyfriend she'd followed across the country, and they had a child named Heather.
02:21While Linda loved her daughter dearly, sources close to her report that she felt unsatisfied
02:26by her domestic life.
02:27So, when her husband opted to take a job opportunity in Africa, she went back to New York and began
02:33the life of a newly divorced single mother.
02:36Linda's time in Arizona was significant for a reason beyond her first marriage and the
02:40birth of her child, for it was also in Arizona that a friend convinced her to take a photography
02:45class.
02:46She's studied art history here, and really importantly, it's where she was introduced
02:50to the art of photography."
02:52She recalled to the San Diego Union-Tribune that the class was very small, but she was
02:56instantly fascinated by her classmates and the subject matter.
03:00Her first photos were taken on a borrowed camera with some black-and-white film, and
03:04her instructor was very impressed.
03:06She explained,
03:07"'I never went back.
03:08I just started taking pictures, and it all fell into place.'"
03:12That, according to Dani Fields, was particularly true in the weeks and months after her return
03:16to New York.
03:17Not only was she taking her own photos and studying famous American photographers like
03:21Dorothea Lange, but she also fell in love with the New York art scene.
03:26Fields recalled visiting Linda in New York in the 1980s and asking about various paintings
03:30and particular galleries.
03:32He soon discovered she knew the layouts of the places perfectly, having spent so much
03:36time in them.
03:38As Howard Soons recounts in his book, Linda Eastman was working at Town & Country magazine
03:42when she received an invitation to join the Rolling Stones on a Hudson River cruise.
03:46An editorial assistant at the time, she accepted the invitation enthusiastically.
03:51She'd often say that she was the only photographer on the trip, though Dani Fields disputes this
03:56claim in his Linda McCartney biography.
03:58Regardless of this detail, Fields recalled that he needed some photos for his magazine
04:02Datebook, and his photographer fell through.
04:05So at the end of the night, he asked the disembarking photographers if they had photos to share.
04:10Linda did, and Fields said the photos that she gave him were completely unlike any of
04:15the other photos that were taken that day.
04:17He even called them the sexiest pictures he'd ever seen.
04:21What's more, the Stones did more than pose for her.
04:24Mick Jagger asked her out on a date, which turned into a full-fledged fling.
04:28It wouldn't last, of course, but she'd later cite the week of the river cruise as one of
04:32the most important of her life, saying,
04:34"...that is when my life really began, when there was no father or husband watching over
04:39me.
04:40Photography saved me.
04:41It was like, wow, there is life after death."
04:45For a very brief time, Linda became known by her married name, Linda C.
04:49However, according to Fields' biography, this moniker quickly backfired because people began
04:54to think that the last name C was a corny photography pun, so she began going by Eastman
05:00once again.
05:01To see the 1960s through the camera lens of Linda Eastman had to be an incredible thing.
05:06When the University of Arizona's Center for Creative Photography put together an exhibit
05:10dedicated to her work, it didn't just feature photos of the Beatles, but also of the Rolling
05:15Stones, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and a slew of other major musicians
05:21of the era.
05:22She got such access to all these different musicians, and they loved her use of natural
05:27light and how she didn't interfere with her subjects.
05:30Not only was she lauded for her ability to get even the most unwilling stars to relax
05:34in front of the camera, but everyone knew it.
05:37She became the first female photographer to get the cover of Rolling Stone with a picture
05:42of Eric Clapton.
05:43Despite her access to so many big names in the music industry, she sadly missed some
05:47of the biggest events of the decade due to financial constraints.
05:51She recalled to Fields,
05:52"...I didn't have an agent, I didn't have an assistant, I didn't have anything.
05:57I did it all myself, on public transport."
06:01Linda's relationship with Paul McCartney would unfold over several years, starting with their
06:05first meeting in a Soho club called The Bag O' Nails when she was in London working on
06:09the book Rock and Other Four-Letter Words.
06:12According to Dani Fields, while the two hit it off immediately, their first meeting was
06:16somewhat accidental.
06:18Linda was there with members of The Animals, the band she'd been photographing, but after,
06:22they bounced to another club.
06:24Paul invited everyone back to his house.
06:26Here's where an art history degree came in handy.
06:29Paul actually wanted to show the group paintings he'd just gotten by the surrealist artist
06:33Rene Magritte.
06:35Linda was not only familiar with the artist, but was excited about seeing his work up close
06:39and personal.
06:40She then got into a press conference where she both photographed the Beatles for the
06:44release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and chatted with Paul some more.
06:49She returned to the U.S., and it was more than a year until they'd meet again.
06:53However, Fields recalled, even after those relatively short meetings, Linda said something
06:57she'd never said about any of the other famous men she'd met.
07:00"'Paul McCartney is so wonderful.
07:03I really am in love with him.'"
07:05By 1968, Paul McCartney was several years into an unhappy relationship with Jane Asher,
07:11an aspiring actress who wanted to focus on her career in lieu of staying home and waiting
07:15for him to return from various Beatle-related trips.
07:19According to Danny Fields, it was on one of those trips — an Apple-related venture to
07:23New York City — that Paul reconnected with Linda Eastman.
07:27However, it would be a while before the two started an exclusive relationship.
07:32Friends recall Paul inviting her to spend time with him in Beverly Hills, while still
07:35making public appearances with Asher on his arm.
07:39Paul eventually invited Linda to London, and once the two became officially involved, things
07:44moved pretty quickly.
07:45She was pregnant by December of that year, he asked her father for permission to marry
07:49her, and they formally got engaged around Christmas.
07:52The wedding, too, happened fairly quickly, and the two tied the knot on March 12, 1969.
07:58And even though there was no official announcement made, police were called in to handle the
08:02crowds of disappointed fans who gathered and sobbed that the last Beatle was off the market.
08:08The breakup of the Beatles famously came after both Linda McCartney and Yoko Ono appeared
08:12on the scene, so it's not surprising that they both got blamed for the group dissolving.
08:16This is something you mustn't do, see, with a Beatle.
08:20You mustn't marry them, because you're going to put a lot of criticism on whoever you are.
08:24According to what Linda told biographer Danny Fields, the hate was often up close and personal.
08:29She recounted that threats were thrown at her on the sidewalk, and that she was regularly
08:33physically attacked by maniacal Beatles fans, even on her wedding day.
08:37She recalled,
08:38"...there was nothing I could do about the way they felt, but they made me feel awful.
08:43Just the idea of them always lurking out there, plotting their next break-in or whatever."
08:47She also had a complicated relationship with the media, as marrying a Beatle meant a life
08:52in the public eye.
08:53Unfortunately, as Howard Soons observed, her shyness in public created an image of a much
08:58more unfriendly and uptight person than she actually was.
09:02Decades later, Linda would still fall back into her discomfort during interviews.
09:06While the attention that comes with celebrity isn't for everyone, with Paul by her side,
09:11she was able to withstand whatever the media had to throw at her.
09:14Linda McCartney may not have been as involved in the breakup of the Beatles as everyone
09:18thought, but there's no denying the fact that she was right in the middle of things when
09:22Paul McCartney started making music with Wings.
09:25While critics may have accused her of planning that all along, she told the San Diego Union
09:29Tribune that couldn't be farther from the truth.
09:32She explained,
09:33"...it was hard work, and he really did have to force me.
09:37And it was very tough on me.
09:38It's nothing I elbowed my way into.
09:40To this day, I wouldn't necessarily want to be doing this.
09:43But we want to be together.
09:45That's why I'm doing it."
09:47At the same time they were putting a band together, they were spending a lot of time
09:50alone up on their farm in Scotland.
09:52While being interviewed for his website, Paul explained that Linda suggested they make the
09:56journey to the farm, and the time they spent there was life-changing.
10:00She saved me from general overall excess, which was pretty much total sort of party
10:05and work."
10:07The experiences they had in Scotland would eventually make it into their music, particularly
10:11their album Ram.
10:13Funny enough, it was while watching Lambs at the Farm that Paul and Linda were inspired
10:17to make their famous foray into vegetarianism.
10:20As Linda went on to write vegetarian cookbooks and found Linda McCartney Foods, the public
10:25accused her of pressuring Paul to make the then-unconventional lifestyle choice.
10:30However, both Paul and their daughter Mary have publicly defended the decision as a collaborative
10:35choice they were proud to have made.
10:37Linda McCartney was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, and in March of 1998, she
10:43was told that the cancer had spread.
10:45She passed away the following month, just two days after she went horseback riding for
10:50the last time.
10:51She was just 56 years old, and the second woman Paul had lost to a diagnosis of breast
10:56cancer.
10:57His mother had died of the same illness when he was 14 years old.
11:01He told the BBC he had been devastated, saying,
11:03"...I think I cried for about a year, on and off.
11:07You expect to see them walk in, this person you love, because you are so used to them.
11:12I cried a lot.
11:13It was almost embarrassing, except it seemed the only thing to do."
11:17Since then, Linda's family has carried on her legacy.
11:21In addition to Paul's continued devotion to vegetarianism and animal rights, their
11:25daughter Stella told W that her vegan skincare line had been inspired by her mother's activism.
11:31Their other daughter, Mary, has followed in her mother's footsteps to become a photographer
11:35as well.
11:36Not only has she released books and filled exhibits with her work, but she's also active
11:40in a charity called Maggie's, which provides support to families touched by cancer.