Paul with Maggie McGivern, his “secret” girlfriend from 1966 to 1969. He was with Jane, also embarked in a relationship with Francie Schwartz, also he met Linda in 1967. Dark haired model Maggie McGivern was dating a photographer when in 1966 she embarked on a secret relationship with one of the most famous men in the world. She had just taken on a steady job working for Marianne Faithful and John Dunbar, as the nanny to their little boy Nicholas, and it was while taking care of Nicholas in Marianne’s third floor Chelsea flat that she first encountered Paul McCartney. He buzzed the intercom to ask if John (Dunbar) was around, and when Paul explained who he was, Maggie invited him straight up.
Six months after their first meeting Maggie says their friendship turned into love: “Our relationship was a secret from day one, at first because we didn’t want Jane to find out, and later because we preferred it like that. We hardly ever went to parties. We would occasionally go to restaurants but normally we’d walk his dogs in Regents Park or go for drives in the country. We craved isolation and I for one did not want to become and overnight superstar - I certainly wasn’t ready for that emotionally”.
“We were lying on the beach just being young and in love. Paul turned to me, smiling, and out of the blue he just said: ‘Have you ever thought about getting married?’. I said, ‘yes, I suppose, one day…’ and I thought nothing more of it. Looking back, it was obviously the wrong answer. When I said one day I I meant in six months, maybe, but not never. But Paul was always slightly insecure and probably saw me as such a free spirit that he thought I was never going to settle down… I suppose I assumed that we would end up together but at the time I was just enjoying it all. In the ‘Sixties there was just so much going on that I didn’t have time to sit and think about the future. I suppose that, with the pressures of fame, Paul was craving security”
“One day, a little after we returned from Sardinia, I rang Paul - and Linda answered the phone. I had seen a newspaper story about him having lunch with her before that, but I wasn’t the type to ask questions or get jealous. I remember Paul telling Linda to get off the phone and I asked him who she was and what was happening. He said: 'I don’t know the scene, man. I don’t know what’s going on'”.
A while later Maggie recived a very late night and perculiar visit from Paul. "He was really down and I couldn’t sem to get a word out of him. He was crying and I knew he had been stressed. I stood and held him and asked him to tell me what was wrong. Then suddenly he jumped up and said he had to go. Somehow I knew when I closed the door that night I wouldn’t see him again.” Only two days had gone by before Maggie discovered that Paul and Linda had married when she saw the headline on a newspaper billboard on King’s Road.
