Paul McCartney says fame ‘sometimes gets too much’

Washington: Sir Paul McCartney admits it’s a struggle to cope with fame in the digital age as he is constantly pursued by fans armed with camera phones. The Beatles legend has spent most of his life in the spotlight, but the veteran singer, who got married for the third time to Nancy Shevell last year, has said that the boom in modern technology makes it much harder for him to go unrecognised.

“It’s never been as hard as it is nowadays to be famous. And I should know what I’m talking about, because I’ve got decades of experience in the subject. Today everybody’s got a telephone with a built-in camera. If I’m walking down the street I don’t really care. It also not really a problem if I’m going into the cinema or going shopping - I don’t really mind,” a website has quoted him as telling a Swiss newspaper. “I’m always polite to the people that speak to me. No need to make it complicated. I’ve known from an early age that for the public I am an exciting figure - and I have had time to get used to it. But even for me nowadays it sometimes gets too much. Sometimes I want to have a peaceful evening with my wife in a restaurant without every few seconds having to pose for a mobile phone photograph. And increasingly people just don’t seem to understand that. That sometimes causes unpleasant scenes,” he said. However, the 69-year-old rocker insists that he will always take fame in his stride. “I don’t want to complain. People like these have given me an enormous amount of happiness. And for that I’m very grateful. I won’t ever forget what I owe them all. At the end of the day I was a member of the best band in the universe and not many people can say that. So anything I moan about has to be put into perspective,” he added. ANI