Anyone vaguely familiar with Fleetwood Mac knows that the group has had its share of disagreements, but we’ve got a new development in the thorny relationship between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks that is perhaps the most prickly to date. In a new Rolling Stone profile, Buckingham likened his former bandmate (and ex-girlfriend) to Donald Trump when recalling being fired from the band in 2018.
“I think others in the band just felt that they were not empowered enough, individually, for whatever their own reasons, to stand up for what was right,” Buckingham told the publication, referring to Nicks’s control over Fleetwood Mac. “And so, it became a little bit like Trump and the Republicans.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Buckingham suggested that Nicks was perhaps jealous or upset that he was able to start a family in his 40s because it destroyed any chances of them possibly getting back together romantically.
“It certainly wasn’t lost on her that, even though I waited till I was 48 to have my first child, I did get in under the wire,” he said.
Nicks responded by issuing a lengthy statement to Rolling Stone, which you can read below:
It’s unfortunate that Lindsey has chosen to tell a revisionist history of what transpired in 2018 with Fleetwood Mac. His version of events is factually inaccurate, and while I’ve never spoken publicly on the matter, preferring to not air dirty laundry, certainly it feels the time has come to shine a light on the truth. Following an exceedingly difficult time with Lindsey at MusiCares in New York, in 2018, I decided for myself that I was no longer willing to work with him. I could publicly reflect on the many reasons why, and perhaps I will do that someday in a memoir, but suffice it to say we could start in 1968 and work up to 2018 with a litany of very precise reasons why I will not work with him. To be exceedingly clear, I did not have him fired, I did not ask for him to be fired, I did not demand he be fired. Frankly, I fired myself. I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my well-being. I was done. If the band went on without me, so be it. I have championed independence my whole life, and I believe every human being should have the absolute freedom to set their boundaries of what they can and cannot work with. And after many lengthy group discussions, Fleetwood Mac, a band whose legacy is rooted in evolution and change, found a new path forward with two hugely talented new members. Further to that, as for a comment on “family” — I was thrilled for Lindsey when he had children, but I wasn’t interested in making those same life choices. Those are my decisions that I get to make for myself. I’m proud of the life choices I’ve made, and it seems a shame for him to pass judgment on anyone who makes a choice to live their life on their own terms, even if it looks differently from what his life choices have been.
You can read the full Buckingham profile here.
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