Mills media outburst 'cathartic'

Mills said 'thousands' had signed her petition for fair journalism

Heather Mills has said she is "so happy" about the public support she has received since her recent outburst against the tabloid press.

Mills, who criticised the media in several TV interviews last week, told breakfast show GMTV she had found the experience "unbelievably cathartic".

She said her estranged husband Sir Paul McCartney had not "said a word" about her comments.

Mills also vowed to continue her campaign to create "fair journalism".

Speaking out, she said, had been "the difference between being in prison and being on parole... I got the chance to defend myself".

"I've had 18 months of the worst press ever and I got the chance to protect myself and my daughter," she added.

'Very civil'

When asked why she did not just "keep quiet" so as not to attract more media attention, Mills said: "I stayed quiet for a year... and it didn't work, I had 4,000 articles written about me."

Mills said "thousands of people" had signed her petition on the youcare.com website, which she plans to take to the European Parliament to strengthen the law against "a specific portion" of the media.

Her latest interview follows a series of TV and radio appearances last week in which she accused the media of "pushing her to the edge", blaming a "certain corner" for feeding them "spin".

She also did an interview with Hello! magazine, accusing Sir Paul of being a "skinflint... a man who hangs on to his money".

Asked on GMTV if Sir Paul had tried to prevent her from speaking out, Mills replied: "I can't go into whether he has tried to gag me.

"The reason we are not divorced is because, basically, I am not meant to talk, but we're again going into the whole Paul thing and the whole thing is about the campaign."

The charity worker insisted relations with Sir Paul were "very civil" for their four-year-old daughter, Beatrice.

Mills' divorce from the ex-Beatle is going through the courts.

Sir Paul's spokesman was not immediately available for comment.