Paul and Linda McCartney's daughter, fashion designer Stella McCartney, has a clear view of her father and his new life after the Beatles' breakup. Stella, who was born in 1971 — the year after the “Fab Four” officially called it quits, spoke to The New Yorker and after watching a special edit of the new Peter Jackson Beatles documentary Get Back, admitted, “It did occur to me, watching it, that we spent a lot of our childhood with Dad recovering from the turmoil and the breakup. Can you imagine being such a critical part of that creation and then having it crumble? And, as children, we were part of a process in which our dad was mourning. It was not an easy thing for Dad, and it lasted for a lot longer than we probably knew.”
Paul McCartney explained that splitting with John Lennon and the Beatles was absolutely devastating to him: “The Beatles' breakup was quite shocking to me, really. It really throws ya, y'know? I mean, as anyone who's had that type of thing happen knows, y'know, it just suddenly makes you think: 'Am I any use to anyone? 'Cause I was very useful yesterday, playing bass and singing — but that's all broken up now.'”
McCartney credits wife Linda with playing an invaluable role in getting him to continue making music after the Beatles' breakup: “To have lost such a great job — and it was really the only job I'd ever had, besides being second man on a truck when I was a kid, and a paper route — it was quite a shock. So that took a little while, but Linda helped me out of that and encouraged me to sort of get back on my feet and said, y'know, 'What are you gonna do now?'”
