Me (Linda as strategic advisor) again: I want to clarify that when I talk about the strategic role Linda played in Paul's career, I'm not necessarily only talking about the artistic direction his career took, but rather the way she advised and supported him in managing his career.
More generally, Linda and her family worked with Paul and contributed directly and significantly to building his career, his image, and their fortune. Paul was the first Beatle (and one of the first musicians) to invest in other artists' music catalogs, for example. One might lament the fact that he acquired such a large fortune, but I think it was brilliant investment advice on the part of the Eastmans to tell Paul to invest in what he knew and mastered (music), and Linda was no stranger to it.
I think it's important to talk about this because I feel that by reducing Linda's role in her marriage to Paul to that of an emotional caretaker, we (analysts) may tend to erase a whole part of Linda's personality and flirt with sexist stereotypes. To make the most obvious comparison, I don't think we can reduce Yoko's role and career to being an emotional crutch for John, for example, and we shouldn't do that for Linda either! I know that's not what you're doing at all, and I understand why it's easier to talk about: everyone can have an opinion on how a heterosexual couple's dynamic is built and presented, but not everyone knows the mechanics of managing an international rock star's career in the 1970s. But I think we need to remain vigilant on this point.
Again, I'm not saying that's what you're doing AT ALL, I think all your comments are very measured and fair, it's more of a general observation.
You're good! I do get where you're coming from, but I just think you may be overstating it in the assumption that taking on "non-wifely" duties would elevate her status. I would hope Linda was involved in the financial decisions of their marriage, and given that she came from such a powerful family who worked to advance Paul's career (much like the Ashers, actually) it shouldn't have been that hard for her to be heard.
It's interesting to think she had the idea to invest in other artists' catalogues -- it's certainly possible, and wouldn't be out of line with her larger experience moving in rock n' roll circles and watching people make and lose significant amounts of money. And even if she just endorsed the idea, that still puts her adjacent to a significant financial decision. Certainly, I would hope Paul would run a major financial decision by her before pulling the trigger, since it affects her life too.
But I also don't know of any convincing reason to think acting as an artistic editor or financial advisor was part of the main thrust of their relationship. Afaik we don't have any evidence that Linda developed large parts of his artistic direction or wrote up large parts of his business plan -- she was part of the team, I'm sure, but it's not clear that she was team lead (or even co-lead).
That being said, it's certainly possible that she did and Paul has hidden it because it doesn't gel with the traditional marriage he's trying to portray. Whether you believe that would have a lot to do with how you view Paul and Linda personally, but there's no way to disprove it, and it does seem roughly in line with what we know of him.
But I think the reason people don't primarily see her contributions as those of an agent or business manager is because, as far as we know, they are primarily not that. She acted largely as his wife, which is also important. The reason people emphasize her role as caretaker and mother figure is because she and Paul emphasized this role in their relationship. Which is either sexist or a mutual decision they were entitled to, depending on your persuasion.
It's not to say that Linda wasn't involved in his music career and didn't have input on their finances -- I really, really hope she did -- but that it's not necessary to transform her role away from that of a wife in order to elevate her status in Paul's life. The "wifely duties" she fulfilled were of incredible importance, and make her an enormously influential and powerful figure in his life by any estimation.
On another note, an interesting example of women whose relationships did heavily revolve around acting as political and financial advisors would be both the wife and mistress of Lyndon Johnson. The majority of Lyndon's letters to his mistress included long lists of political and financial questions he wanted her input on, and significant moves in his career can be traced to her advice. She ultimately left him because they disagreed on the Vietnam War.
And Lady Bird, his wife, was a tangible asset in his career, far more than was typical for political wives at the time. She attended meetings where women were typically disallowed, established and maintained political connections, and there were times when he took her advice over anyone else's. I wouldn't necessarily say this elevated her, as she was already enormously important in his life (and, incidentally, she cared for him and guarded against his reoccurring depressions in much the same way Linda cared for Paul), but it would be impossible to understand the overall thrust of their relationship (or Lyndon's career) without understanding how she functioned as a political asset.
