Paul McCartney Marks 15 Years of Marriage to Nancy Shevell With a Word He Invented Just for Her

Oct 15, 2026 by apost team

Paul McCartney has been married three times. His first wife, Linda Eastman, was the love of his life for nearly 30 years before her death from cancer in 1998. His second marriage, to Heather Mills, ended in a widely publicized and painful divorce in 2008. His third marriage, to Nancy Shevell, has now lasted 15 years — and he marked the occasion with a word he invented himself.

“Happy Nanniversary to all of us! — Paul,” he wrote, posting a photograph of the two of them on a boat. McCartney wore a blue-and-white striped button-up beneath a black zip-up hoodie and blue slacks. Shevell wore a yellow floral blouse, a matching silky shawl, and cream-colored pants. They were smiling. The word was a portmanteau of Nancy and anniversary. It was, by every measure, exactly the kind of caption a man in a happy marriage writes.

McCartney and Shevell met in the summer of 2007 when both were staying at their respective properties in the Hamptons. They married on October 9, 2011, in a simple town hall ceremony at the Old Marylebone Town Hall in London — the same venue where McCartney had married Linda in 1969, more than four decades earlier. Shevell wore a dress designed by Stella McCartney, Paul’s daughter from his first marriage. The ceremony was attended by family and close friends.

The anniversary falls on October 9 — a date that carries additional resonance, because it is also the birthday of John Lennon, McCartney’s former Beatles bandmate, who would have turned 86. McCartney has never commented publicly on the coincidence. He does not appear to find it unwelcome.

The word he chose was “Nanniversary.” Fifteen years in, he is still making up words for her.

The 15th anniversary arrives in the middle of what has been an eventful autumn for McCartney. He recently confirmed that he performed at Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s wedding at Madison Square Garden — sharing that Swift subsequently joined him onstage for a duet of “I Saw Her Standing There,” a 1964 Beatles hit that McCartney had not performed live in more than six decades. He also offered the newlyweds a piece of romantic advice, though he has not disclosed what it was.

McCartney, at 84, is one of the most productive and active musicians of his generation. His most recent studio album, “Egypt Station,” was released in 2018. He has since completed the Got Back Tour, published books, produced documentary content, and maintained an active live career. Last year, he and Shevell were photographed at a Metallica performance at Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, New York — a date night that was entirely their idea.

The marriage has worked, sources close to the couple have suggested, because of its fundamental simplicity. “They’re clearly well-suited, well-matched,” a source told PEOPLE. “Sometimes we will watch something on TV together, and I always read before bed, usually a biography, while Nancy finishes watching a series,” McCartney has said of his evenings at home.

He is 84. She is 66. They met in the Hamptons. They got married where he married Linda. She wore a Stella McCartney dress. He called it a Nanniversary.

That, from a man who once wrote some of the most celebrated love songs in the history of recorded music, is still a pretty good line.

apost.com

Are you a fan of Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell? Do you think their love story is one of the most quietly beautiful in music history? Let us know in the comments and pass this on to your family, friends, and other fans out there!