Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie has commented on the infamous drama and conflict surrounding the band, revealing that she believes that the group's argumentative reputation is a little over-exaggerated.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the keyboardist/vocalist is questioned as to whether she's heard of the rumours relating to a potential Fleetwood Mac biopic. When claiming to know nothing about such projects, RS journalist Andy Greene then expresses his hope that if such a film were to ever be created, the scriptwriters would focus "more on the music than the fights".
In response, McVie says, "There weren’t that many fights. When you think about it, we really did not fight that much. There were moments when it got a bit beefy, but all in all we got on really quite well."
Elsewhere, the Fleetwood Mac star is offered the theory that, due to her "calm and reasonable" personality, she was viewed as a Mother Teresa figure within the band, who would get on with everyone and rarely get into conflicts.
"That is apparently true, but I didn’t realise that at the time" she responds. "Yes, I was supposedly like the Mother Teresa who would hang out with everybody or just try and [keep] everything nice and cool and relaxed. But they were great people; they were great friends.
"I don’t think I thought about it that much" McVie adds, after being asked whether her role as peacekeeper resulted in an emotional toll. "I enjoyed the storm.… Even though I am quite a peaceful person, I did enjoy that storm. Although it’s said that we fought a lot, we actually did spend a lot of our time laughing. So, that must have been forgotten. Great sense of humour."
When asked about her relationship with former husband and bandmate John McVie, and whether she believes that their dynamic was overlooked due to the turbulent nature of the other and highly more dramatic relationship in the band between vocalist Stevie Nicks and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, the keyboardist comments, "Well, we used to fight occasionally, but not that often. I think we sorted our differences out by then, and we actually got on really well.…
"It was never as melodramatic as Stevie and Lindsey" she continues. "And right now, we don’t live in the same hemisphere. He lives in L.A.; I live in London. But we occasionally write to each other or phone each other.… He’s been suffering with a few health problems, but he’s OK. So we talk a fair bit. He’s a good man, John."
As to whether Nicks and Buckingham are in contact or have any remanence of a civil relationship following his dismissal from the band in 2018, McVie offers, "Well, I don’t think they are enemies anymore, but they just don’t hang out. I mean, there is, I think, a certain peace that they have now, but you’d have to ask them".
You can read the full interview with McVie on RollingStone.com
