Mary McCartney

Early life

McCartney was born in London on 28 August 1969 and named after her paternal grandmother, Mary McCartney. She is the first biological child of Paul McCartney of the Beatles and photographer Linda Eastman McCartney, and Linda's second child. McCartney has an older half-sister, Heather McCartney who was born Heather Louise See on 31 December 1962 to Linda and Joseph Melville See Jr. and adopted by Paul McCartney; a younger sister, Stella Nina McCartney who was born on 13 September 1971; and a younger brother, James Louis McCartney, who was born on 12 September 1977. McCartney's mother Linda died from breast cancer in 1998. McCartney has a much younger half-sister, Beatrice Milly McCartney, born to her father and his second wife, Heather Mills, on 28 October 2003.

The most famous photograph of McCartney was taken by her mother; it is a photograph of her as a baby, peeking out from inside her father's jacket. The photograph is featured on the back cover of her father's first solo album, McCartney, (sometimes known as the "Cherries" album).

After the birth of her sister, Stella, McCartney's parents formed the rock group Wings, with whom she and her siblings travelled the world until 1980. She grew up to be a vegetarian and is passionate about animal rights like the rest of her family.

Professional life

Following in the footsteps of her mother, McCartney became a professional photographer. She was a photo editor for the music-book publisher Omnibus Press and in 1992 began taking photographs professionally, specializing in portrait and fashion photography. Because her paternal grandmother and her mother died of breast cancer, she began campaigning for breast cancer awareness in the United Kingdom. As a result, she became close friends with Cherie Blair, wife of former UK prime minister Tony Blair. This led to McCartney being chosen to take the first official photo of the prime minister and his wife with their fourth child, Leo, born 20 May 2000. Before this, the most well-known photos of hers were the last photographs taken of her mother, three weeks before her death. McCartney has taken portraits of Sam Taylor-Wood, Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, and of her sister Stella McCartney, who is a fashion designer.

Her first public photography exhibition was titled Off Pointe: A Photographic Study of The Royal Ballet After Hours. It includes offstage pictures of members of "The Royal Ballet, London" as part of the Brighton Festival Fringe, and was meant to showcase the difference between their grueling and often painful everyday lives and their storybook performances.

In 2001, McCartney produced the television documentary "Wingspan", a story of her father's post-Beatles musical career, focusing on her parents' band Wings. She also interviews her father in the film.

In 2004, she was employed by Spice Girl Melanie C, to be the official photographer for her album Beautiful Intentions, McCartney also directed the music video for Chisholm's single "Better Alone".

McCartney now runs the picture department at her father's company, MPL Communications.

In 2012, McCartney collaborated with Vertu - a luxury British-based mobile phone manufacturer - and Smile Train - a charity that provides cleft-palate operations for disadvantaged children around the world. Travelling to Beijing and Volgograd, McCartney photographed four children who have benefited from the rehabilitative surgery provided by Smile Train and therefore been provided with the gift of communication, allowing them to integrate fully into society for the first time in their lives. The Constellation Smile project culminated in a photography exhibition in London on 12 June, followed by a global tour. A limited-edition coffee table book has also been made, each signed by McCartney, in order to raise money for the charity.

McCartney has written two vegetarian cookbooks, Food: Vegetarian Home Cooking (2012) and At My Table: Vegetarian Feasts for Family and Friends (2015).

Personal life

In 1995, McCartney's brother James introduced her to director and television producer Alistair Donald. After dating for three years, they set a wedding date for May 1998. Upon the death of her mother, the wedding was postponed and McCartney and Alistair Donald were married on 26 September 1998. Mary Anna McCartney was then known as Mary Anna McCartney-Donald. On 3 April 1999, McCartney gave birth to her father's first grandchild, Arthur Alistair Donald, now the eldest of eight grandchildren. The Donalds' second son, Elliot Donald, was born on 1 August 2002. For most of their married life, the couple lived in Lauderdale Mansions South in Maida Vale, London.

In April 2005, the couple announced their separation, but stated that it was only temporary and they wished to reconcile for the sake of their two sons. Although there was no public confirmation of a divorce, by 2007 she had returned to using her birth name professionally.

On 11 August 2008, McCartney gave birth to a son, her first child with director boyfriend Simon Aboud. On 12 June 2010, McCartney and Aboud were married in a private ceremony in London at the Marylebone Register Office, the same location where her parents were married in 1969. On 3 September 2011, McCartney gave birth to her second son with Aboud.