Paul McCartney: I Still Talk to Linda

L O N D O N, Sept. 12, 2000 -- Paul McCartney says he talks to his deceased wife, Linda, and asked her what she thought of his new romance with model Heather Mills.

“She is a great girl and I have to talk [to Linda]aboutthat. You know ... What am I doing, babe? How do you feel aboutthis,” the ex-Beatle told London’s Mirror tabloid.

“And she says, ‘If I was there, you’d be dead meat, sucker. But I’m not and I want you to be happy,’” he said. “That’s the feeling I get back. I know they’d like each other because they have a lot in common.”

Big Hearts and Tough Spirits

The singer said his late wife and Mills, 32, both have big hearts and a toughness ofspirit.

Linda McCartney died of breast cancer two years ago. The two had been married for more than 30 years.

“I have a new romance with Heather Mills and I am very intoit,” McCartney, 58, told the newspaper.

“People say time is a healer, and time heals by erasing. That is a sad fact. I am not saying I could ever forget my mum or my dad or Linda or John [Lennon]. In some ways you remember them more,” he told the newspaper. “But when Linda died all of us in the family expected her to walk in the door, and we don’t now. I would have preferred it if it [Linda’s death] hadn’t happened, but it has changed me.”

A Lot in Common

In a separate article McCartney penned for The Timesnewspaper, the singer talked about his new book out this weekwhich features his secret passion — painting.

“People say to me, ‘I didn’t know you painted,’ and theywouldn’t because I have hardly talked about it outside myfamily,” McCartney wrote in The Times.

He said he kept his hobby quiet for fear of being labeledas celebrity painter.

“I didn’t want to get labeled with that one, but I knew itwas out there because I knew anyone who crosses out of his ownfield into a different medium tends to get criticized,” he said.

Remembering John

McCartney also talked about his memories of Beatles bandmember John Lennon, who was assassinated in 1980.

He said one of his most poignant memories of Lennon was theresult of a minor argument they had on some small point.

“Realizing he had hurt me with one of his comments, Johnlowered his granny glasses and peeking out from behind them saidgently ‘It’s only me.’”

Reuters contributed to this report.