Paul McCartney spoke candidly about bringing his children out on the road in the 1970's during the Wings era. When asked by a fan who sent a question in to his PaulMcCartney.com website about it, “Macca” responded, “It was interesting and it was wacky. Our main reason was, we worried about leaving the kids at home and then getting a nanny or somebody ringing up saying ‘oh they’ve gone into hospital’ or ‘they’re very ill’, and we’d be far away in Australia or something.”
He went on to explain, “When we decided to bring them along we tried to be very careful about the sensible stuff like their education. We did things like going to their school and asking the teachers what the class are they going to be doing while we’re away, and then we had a tutor that came with us — the kids hated him! They did not like being told in the afternoon that it was 'school time!' They’d protest: 'No, we wanna go to the beach!'”
McCartney, who now has eight grandchildren, added, “But it was great — it was lovely having them with us. They joke about it now, saying they were hippy commune kids! But it was great for us, and I think it was great for them. It meant that we didn’t have to worry about them, because they were right there with us. And we figured if you want to know geography, actually going to all these places was helpful — it was part of their education. So yeah, it was interesting!”
Paul and Linda McCartney's daughter Stella McCartney, who's now 50, explained that having solid parents and a close relationship with her siblings grounded her and set the course for her success: “Y'know, I do look at my upbringing and think it enabled me to not have to compromise. That's one of the biggest blessings it gave me, that I always, sort of, knew — I still know — that if everything goes horribly wrong, I can fall back on a really loving, caring, unconditional family unit and will be okay, y'know? I have a good buffer and I think that afforded me to not compromise my ethics going into my workplace.”
While appearing on NBC's Today, Paul McCartney was asked if early on his grandchildren had any idea how popular and recognizable he was: “No, they didn't. Y'know, I say, 'People come to see me!' (Laughter) 'People pay to come and see me — I'm famous!' (They say) 'Yeah, yeah, we're watching TV.' They gradually get the fame thing. They get, like, people always wanting a photo of me — but they're very. . . they're very cool with it.”
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