Heather Mills will quit Britain once her divorce battle with former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney is complete, her father predicted today.
Mark Mills, 66, told reporters that he thought his daughter would move either to the United States or France, along with the couple’s four-year-old daughter Beatrice.
The ex-model has consistently complained of her treatment by the tabloid press.
“She won’t stay in this country. She knows everybody hates her and she does not care,” Mark Mills said.
“I think she’s very low at the moment and would leap at the chance to get away from it all and take her daughter Bea with her.
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“I think she’ll go abroad and then just slowly fade away into obscurity.”
Today the High Court showdown between the warring couple continued for a third day. Press reports suggested that the pair might be near to an agreement at the London hearings, which had been due to last five days. They represent the last chance to reach an accord without going to a public hearing.
Neither Sir Paul, 65, nor Mills, 40, a former model turned campaigner, have commented on the proceedings, which are being held behind closed doors. Mills is thought to be representing herself in court after dismissing her legal team.
Her father said doing that took courage, but feared that she would be “torn to shreds” by McCartney’s lawyers.
The former Beatle’s legal team, led by Nicholas Mostyn, includes Fiona Shackleton, who acted for Prince Charles in his divorce from Diana, Princess of Wales.
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Sir Paul and Mills were last in court in October, but failed to agree a financial settlement in what is claimed could be one of the costliest divorces in British legal history, outstripping the £48 million that John Charman, a businessman, was ordered to pay his former wife last year.
McCartney is estimated to be worth £825 million, but last year’s Sunday Times Rich List made a £100 million allowance for a possible divorce settlement.
The musician married Mills in 2002, four years after his first wife, Linda, died from breast cancer. They announced an “amicable” split in May 2006, but their dealings since have been anything but friendly.
Sandra Sinclair, of law firm SAS Daniels, commented that Britain was the best jurisdiction in the world for wives seeking a divorce settlement, but warned that Mills has no background in law.
“She must be mad to do it herself. She will be up against one of the finest legal teams in the world,” she said.