Alex Carson
“American Pie” singer Don McLean has been in the news a lot lately, and not for entirely great reasons. After a 2016 divorce from his second wife that came along with numerous allegations of domestic abuse, the singer has seemingly continued his career without a hitch. Now, he is back in the news for a variety of reasons. Not only is a stage play in the works based on his most famous song, but fans and onlookers alike have also begun taking a massive interest in the singer’s new romantic partner. This interest is not only due to the singer’s turbulent romantic past, but also due to the fact that his new girlfriend is nearly 50 years younger than him! For the past several years, the 75-year-old singer has been dating 27-year-old celebrity model Paris Dylan. Join Facts Verse as we explore why Don McLean & his girlfriend have a massive age gap.
75-year-old Don McLean and 27-year-old Paris Dylan have been dating for a number of years, and things now seem to be getting fairly serious. The two publicly announced their love several years ago on social media, sharing images with each other on a vacation in France. Don had been touring across Europe, and Paris had been his personal companion. The two had previously been spotted in the United Kingdom, and fans had been speculating that the two were romantically involved since around the time of Don’s 2016 divorce from his second wife. This divorce came with a good deal of drama as a result of some hefty abuse allegations that Don was not entirely cleared of. Despite this, it appears that Don is happier than ever with his new girlfriend, despite their massive age difference. As well, his career appears to be going strong, with a new stage play on the way based upon his hit song “American Pie”.
Don has been married twice in his life, with his second marriage having lasted for nearly three decades. The singer’s first wife was a woman named Carol, whom he was only married to for a period of a couple of years starting in 1969. According to Don, he didn’t have much luck with romances before meeting his second wife. These romantic difficulties certainly make a lot more sense if you consider his second wife’s recent abuse allegations to be legitimate. Don’s second wife was Patrisha Shnier.
Don and Patrisha were married in 1987, and didn’t divorce until 2016. Over that period, the couple had two children. However, the marriage was dissolved after Don was arrested and charged with domestic assault. Don accepted a plea bargain. Although this plea bargain wasn’t technically an admission of guilt, many people have taken it as such. However, it’s terms technically allowed for the dismissal of the charges. The singer has maintained that he only accepted the plea bargain as a means to keep his family out of the papers. However, his daughter has sided with her mother, so this excuse doesn’t carry a whole lot of weight.
It’s unknown what Don’s two kids think about him dating a woman nearly 50 years younger than him. According to Patrisha, Don is a bit of a control freak when it comes to relationships. Many have speculated that Don’s interest in the much younger Paris may be emblematic of his predatory romantic habits. Still, the relationship remains legal and consensual despite the massive age difference between the two. It’s certainly a unique arrangement, and might result in some interesting family dinners. However, it doesn’t sound like family dinners will be much of an issue for the aging singer.
Though it’s unclear where exactly Don met Paris, Don has shared that the two bond over a shared interest in his music. Paris is a model that has appeared in Maxim and Playboy magazines, as well as the MTV reality show Catfish. If her appearance on Catfish is any indication, Paris was no stranger to odd relationships even before Don came into her life. Catfish is a television program that depicts real life incidents of predatory online romances where one or more of the involved parties are not who they claim to be. The incident involving Paris was one of the stranger cases that the show had depicted at that point in time, resulting in her becoming somewhat of a celebrity figure overnight.
The incident depicted in the Catfish episode featuring Paris occurred in 2011, when she was only 17 years old. A woman posing as 33-year-old NBA star Chris “Birdman” Andersen duped Paris into an online romance to get pictures and personal information from her. The woman then used these pictures and personal information to separately trick Birdman himself. The woman’s name was Shelly Chartier, and it was deemed that she was attempting to extort money from the basketball player through this fake online relationship.
Shelly was subsequently charged with fraud as a result of her crimes and given an 18-month prison sentence. Hopefully, Paris’ relationship with Don won’t end with arrest like her relationship on Catfish did, or like Don’s second marriage did. Next, let’s take a look at the incident that ended Don’s 29 year marriage to his second wife. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support! As well, subscribe and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
Don McLean’s second marriage ended in an incident that saw the singer arrested and charged with domestic assault. Although the singer didn’t technically plead guilty, he did accept a plea bargain. To some, this has been seen as an admission of guilt. Even the singer’s own daughter seems to have sided completely with her mother. Since the 2016 incident and subsequent divorce, Don’s daughter has claimed that she is totally estranged from her father.
Despite this controversial incident, Don has escaped much of the ire that others have faced amidst the so-called cancel culture of the times. In fact, both Don’s career and his love life appear to be going as strongly as ever. Don has repeatedly claimed in interviews that he only accepted the plea bargain in his domestic violence case in order to keep his family out of the courts. He has also expressed extremely hateful sentiments towards his ex-wife, saying that she is one of the worst people that he has ever met. If Patrisha Shnier really did make these accusations up, Don’s anger here is understandable. However, if his daughter and ex-wife are to be trusted, he is simply an abusive bully using the media to spin public interest in his favor.
Patrisha was so moved by her experiences with Don that she now runs a domestic violence organization called Finding Our Voices. This organization aims to give victims of domestic violence a voice. Given the fact that Patrisha has often found herself silenced as a result of her ex-husband’s increased media presence, it stands to reason that she views this issue very passionately.
Don and Patrisha’s divorce was sparked by a specific incident, but Patrisha has expressed that this wasn’t the first time that Don had been controlling or abusive. In fact, she says that Don had been a domineering presence throughout the majority of their time together. According to her, she had to hang up the phone when Don came into the room no matter how important the conversation was. This was because Don demanded her full attention, otherwise he could snap. Other instances of domineering behavior detailed in Patrisha’s numerous allegations involve Don’s controlling of her finances, as well as his insistence on controlling the type of car that she drove.
All of this abusive behavior apparently came to a head in January of 2016. Don had apparently had one of his trademark meltdowns as a result of Patrisha not following his commands, and she had locked herself in the bathroom. As Don apparently stood pounding down the door, his ex-wife shakily dialed 911. Soon, the police arrived. They arrested Don, and Patrisha filed for divorce soon after. Don wasted no time in finding a new girlfriend in the form of the much younger Paris Dylan.
Don’s 2016 arrest originally resulted in six charges, though this number was soon brought down to four. These charges included the aforementioned domestic assault. Along with his plea bargain, Don had to pay around $3,000 in fines. Still, this is an incredibly small punishment when compared to other notorious instances of celebrities charged with abuse. We’ll likely never know just how true the allegations against Don were, but the fact that his own daughter believes them makes it seem like there might be more to the story than Don claims. Still, Don continues to control the narrative through his media presence. Both his career and his love life are going strong, at least for the time being.
It’s debatable how long Don and Paris’ relationship will last, but the two are adamant that they are madly in love. Both have referred to the other as their soul mate, and they seem to be sticking together like glue no matter how the public perceives their relationship. Don McLean fans can look forward to a stage play based upon “American Pie” to hit the stage sometime in the new future, so long as no new allegations come out about the aging singer. In the meantime, Patrisha Shnier urges anyone who plans on buying a ticket to the production to consider donating an equal amount of money to domestic violence victims.
Although the singer is certainly best known for “American Pie”, Don McLean has written a number of other hits. In fact, one of his songs was even performed by Elvis Presley! Comment down below to share your favorite Don McLean deep cut, or if you think the singer is guilty or innocent in regards to the allegations of abuse. As always, like this video to show your support, and subscribe and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
