Heather gets put through the mill

HEATHER Mills McCartney. Does she still use the McCartney name these days? I dunno. All I know is that's she been all over the papers - again. Now, before we go any further, I don't know her personally, have never met her and, as far as I know, I have never met anyone that has met her either. I, like you, probably only know what I know of her through what I've seen on TV and read in papers.

And, to be honest, I've never really formed much in the way of an opinion of her because so much has been written about her, and there is really no way to know what is true and what isn't.

So, at this point, I'll just stick to the facts. She lost her leg in a horrific accident some years ago, successfully went on to campaign for other amputees, met Sir Paul McCartney not long after he lost his wife Linda, married him, had a baby and is now presently going through a divorce.

And now the bits we're unsure about. She made porn movies, hunted down Paul McCartney and married him for fame and his money, is presently trying to nail him for millions, went to court in crutches to get sympathy and, most recently, killed her neighbour's dog.

I say we're unsure about those bits because they are all stories which have come out about her in our tabloids.

And it would appear that this week, she's had enough. On Wednesday morning, she came out on GMTV and This Morning with all guns blazing, in a full-on attack on the British tabloid press.

She spoke of the distress and anxiety she has suffered through being constantly followed, tailed and photographed by photographers. She also spoke of the hurt that many of the "dreadful" and "untrue" stories that have appeared about her in the press in recent times have caused.

Now I'm not saying that everything that has been written about Heather Mills was a lie, but I can't believe that everything is true either, which makes the whole situation a bit cloudy.

One of her big concerns was for her daughter who will no doubt, in this technological age, find herself looking at these stories and, let's face it, they won't make pleasant reading. She says she is not "taking on the tabloids", but campaigning to the European Courts to make it law over here that these papers have to be answerable to the stories they write.

In being answerable, it means backing their stories up with evidence and it would include revealing the "sources" and "friends" we often read so much about. And if the stories are revealed to be false then the apologies that the papers have to issue have to be the same size as the coverage they gave to the original article.

In essence, she wants truth and honesty in our tabloid press. Fantastically admirable sentiments, but is that something we really think can happen in this celebrity-obsessed country?

Problem is we do live in a celebrity-obsessed society, so the tabloids will sell more if their papers cover more. There are of course only so many celebrities and so many papers, so the competition to get the biggest exclusive is huge.

But in all honesty, how much do we really need to know about this divorce case? Do we really care that a footballer's wife has just spent ten grand on a bag?

I couldn't for sure say that papers print stories they know are untrue, but in some cases if they feel the story is strong enough, I would go as far to say that very little is done to check the authenticity.

My family has experienced first-hand the full force of the press, so you can understand that what Heather has said this week strikes a huge chord with me.

She seems to have had a solid bank of friends and family around her to support her through these last 18 months, and one thing's for sure, her close family will no doubt feel it at times as well.

No doubt about it, the implications these stories have on an individual's family is something that will never be given a second thought when they are written. Having been there, I can assure you it is a horrific thing to have to go through and as much as we seem to be through it, the effect on certain members of my family will never go away.

Don't get me wrong; if someone in the public eye does something wrong, irresponsible or illegal then they absolutely deserve to have it reported by the press, no matter who they are. If it is in the public interest to know something about someone, then that's when the press should do what they do best.

We've long accepted that the tabloid press are very powerful and, in some cases, appear to be able to write what they want about who they want. But in some cases, like Heather's, it becomes almost like some sort of personal vendetta, so should there not be some sort of control?

Take some of yesterday's headlines; saying she was comparing herself to the McCanns. I saw the interviews and my interpretation is that although she mentioned the family she never once made any such comparison, yet that didn't stop the headlines appearing. Twisting the facts like that just isn't right.

As I said earlier, I have no personal knowledge or opinion of Heather Mills McCartney, but one thing I do know is that she has taken on a quite fascinating and momentous battle and we'll no doubt continue to read all about it, and her, as it progresses.