LONDON – Heather Mills hurled a verbal blow at former husband Paul McCartney during their acrimonious divorce hearing Friday, according to the British media.
But it wasn't over yet. The already dayslong proceedings to determine how much money Mills should receive from McCartney was to stretch into next week, Sky News reported.
Mills, 40, lashed out at her 65-year-old ex and former Beatle for ignoring a request for an autograph on the way into the Royal Courts of Justice, according to the Daily Mail.
"I can't sign that here," the Mail reported McCartney told the fan, named "Joe."
Mills scoffed at the behavior of her estranged husband of four years.
"You should have told him that it's his fans who made him rich and famous," Mills reportedly told Joe. "You put him where he is." She then signed the notebook herself, "To Joe, lots of love, Heather Mills."
Click here for more on this story from the Daily Mail.
Earlier this week, the High Court judge overseeing the hearing imposed a gag order on McCartney and Mills to prevent leaks.
Justice Hugh Bennett warned the couple and their advisers that they face contempt of court proceedings and huge fines if confidential details of their divorce are made public, the Mail reported Tuesday.
Bennett issued the warning amid intense media interest in the case. Details of a settlement may never become public unless the case goes to the Court of Appeal.
Mills is a former model whose left leg was amputated below the knee after a motorcycle accident in 1993. She became active in campaigning against land mines and in favor of animal welfare.
The "Dancing With the Stars" participant is representing herself in court. She also has drafted David Rosen, a little-known London solicitor, as a McKenzie Friend, a layperson not normally a lawyer who can offer behind-the-scenes advice but not address the court, the Mail reported.
McCartney has assembled perhaps the strongest divorce team in the country, including Fiona Shackleton, who acted for Prince Charles in his divorce.
Unlike most British court cases, divorce proceedings are heard in private.
Legal experts said several factors that would be taken into account, including McCartney and Mills' 4-year-old daughter, Beatrice; the relative brevity of their marriage; and that most of McCartney's wealth was generated before he married Mills in 2002.
The couple married in June 2002 — four years after the death of McCartney's first wife, Linda, from breast cancer. Beatrice was born in October the following year. McCartney and Mills announced their separation in 2006, and McCartney filed for divorce alleging "unreasonable behavior" by Mills.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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