Paul McCartney Attempts To Remain Classy Despite Divorce Proceedings

When Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills announced their split in May, they still seemed pretty friendly towards each other. Things have changed.

Mills, 38, is reportedly furious at the former Beatles singer/bassist. He's begun divorce proceedings against her, beating her to the punch before she could file.

This could become one of the most drawn-out and expensive divorces in legal history, after McCartney and Mills failed to reach a deal on a 30-million-pound ($63.5 million Canadian) "quickie" divorce. In the petition submitted to the courts, McCartney blamed the separation on Mills' "unreasonable behaviour," claiming that she was "argumentative" and "rude to staff." McCartney also claims that the former lingerie model treated him like a "doormat."

Mills' decision to reject the settlement offer has led to accusations of her being a gold-digger who married McCartney for his money and that she's after a larger chunk of his 825-million-pound ($1.75 billion) fortune. Some legal specialists believe that she may be entitled to as much as 200 million pounds ($423 million) if the case is decided by the courts.

"Paul is a reasonable guy who doesn't like confrontation," a friend of McCartney's told Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper. "In his eyes they agreed that they wanted to make the divorce quick and painless and a settlement was virtually in place — but then Heather started to get unreasonable because she wanted more money."

McCartney didn't make Mills sign a pre-nuptial agreement before their wedding because he thought that it was unromantic and had little likelihood of being enforced under U.K. law.

The relationship between the pair deteriorated even further earlier this month after Mills confronted Sir Paul with a tape recording of a private conversation between him and his daughter, fashion designer Stella McCartney, in which she claimed to dislike her stepmother.

McCartney is also said to be shocked by recent allegations about his wife's past, including that she worked as a high-class prostitute servicing wealthy Arab princes. Pornographic photos of Mills from a book published in the '80s have also recently surfaced.

McCartney may be able to take his mind off of his marital woes through the September 26 release of a full-length classical music work entitled Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart). His fourth classical album since 1991's The Liverpool Oratorio was eight years in the making after he was commissioned by the Oxford University-affiliated Magdalen College to compose something for its new concert hall.

Ecce Cor Meum was produced by John Fraser and recorded at Abbey Road Studios in March. It features soprano Kate Royal, The Boys King College Choir from Cambridge, The Boys of Magdalen College Choir from Oxford and The Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields conducted by Gavin Greenway.

Ecce Co Meum is an oratorio in four movements scored for choir and orchestra that combines English and Latin text. McCartney learned Latin while in school as a youngster.

"Not all of this has been retained over the years, as my path went in other directions, but my love of language remains," he says. "And as Latin is known and sung by choirs all over the world, I felt it would be appropriate to use at times during the piece."