Judge Portrays McCartney's Ex As 'Out of Control'

In marked contrast to his methodical trashing of Mills, 40, Bennett wrote that McCartney, 65, "expressed himself moderately though at times with justifiable irritation, if not anger. He was consistent, accurate and honest."

The judge did everything but ask for McCartney's autograph and two tickets to his next show.

Mills had argued in court that her marriage to McCartney forced her to shelve a career that was earning her millions of dollars. She told the judge she had been a top model, television personality and one of the "top 10 female speakers in Europe," appearing with the likes of astronaut Neil Armstrong.

She said she had a $1.5 million modeling contract, was earning up to $50,000 per speech and had as much as $6 million in the bank before she met McCartney. Much of her work was related to charities she worked with after losing a leg in a 1993 traffic accident.

She claimed that McCartney discouraged her from actively pursuing her career because of "his fear of losing my undivided attention" and because "he also needed to be the center of attention at all times."

Mills said CNN's Larry King had in April 2004 offered her a contract to be a regular guest host on his show. Bennett ruled that he found no evidence that any such offer had been made. King spokesman Bridget Leininger said in a brief telephone interview King's policy was not to discuss potential guest hosts or other personnel matters.

Bennett said tax returns suggested that Mills's claims of her earnings before her marriage were "wholly exaggerated." He said that her income increased after her wedding to McCartney, who gave her $720,000 a year in "allowance" and in 2002 and 2003 gave her an additional $1 million in cash. In 2005, the judge said, McCartney bought Mills jewelry worth more than $520,000.

In court, Mills also claimed that she "counseled" McCartney over the death of first wife, Linda, who died in 1998. She said she gave him the confidence he needed to start touring again -- and helped him write songs.

"I was his full-time wife, mother, lover, confidante, business partner and psychologist," she said.

Linda McCartney's death had been hard on McCartney, Bennett said. He noted -- in a detail he said was "not without significance" -- that McCartney wore Linda's wedding ring right up until his wedding to Mills.

"Her case that in some way she single-handedly saved him was exaggerated," Bennett ruled. "I am prepared to accept that her presence was emotionally supportive to him but to suggest that in some way she was his 'business partner' is, I am sorry to have to say, make-belief."

Mills spent "unreasonable" amounts of money after her April 2006 separation from McCartney, Bennett wrote. He noted that she had spent more than $4 million from October 2006 to December 2007.

The judge said the only income she generated in that period was about $220,000 she received for being on the U.S. television show "Dancing With the Stars."

Mills spent at least $1 million on "completely unreasonable" items -- including charter planes and helicopters -- largely to justify her demand that McCartney pay her more than $6 million a year in living expenses, the judge ruled.

Bennett said he thinks Mills believes "she is entitled for the indefinite future, if not for the whole of her life, to live at the same 'rate' as the husband and to be kept in the style to which she perceives she was accustomed during the marriage."

"Although she strongly denied it," Bennett wrote, "her case boils down to the syndrome of 'me, too' or 'if he has it, I want it too.' "