Stevie Nicks Said Dating Lindsey Buckingham Was Like Having to Come Home to Her Secretary
While in Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham learned the hard way that dating a coworker has its challenges. The couple split in the 1970s and went on to work together, on and off, for decades. Nicks explained that the dynamic of working together while dating eventually began to wear on them. She revealed that dating Buckingham was like dating her secretary.
Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham met as high schoolers
Nicks and Buckingham met as high school students in California. Their relationship was initially platonic, and they connected over music.
“We were at some get-together and he was there, sitting, playing his guitar — [the Mamas and the Papas’ hit] ‘California Dreamin’’ — and I walked up and brazenly burst into harmony with him,” Nicks told MTV. “It was cool, and I said ‘I’m Stevie Nicks’ and he said ‘I’m Lindsey Buckingham.’ I never saw him again for two years, until he was in a band and he remembered that night and he called and asked me to join their band.”
The band eventually broke up, and Nicks and Buckingham formed a duo and a romantic relationship. After struggling to make their music career work, they joined Fleetwood Mac and enjoyed swift success.
The couple had a very public breakup while in Fleetwood Mac
In 1976, just one year after joining the band, Nicks and Buckingham broke up. The split was the subject behind many songs on the band’s album Rumours. Nicks explained their separation a bit more simply.
“The best explanation is: try working with your secretary . . . in a raucous office . . . and then come home with her at night,” Nicks told Rolling Stone in 1977. “See how long you could stand her. I could be no comfort to Lindsey when he needed comfort.”
She explained that she couldn’t be a supportive partner while also having the band’s best interests in mind. If Buckingham couldn’t perform well musically, Nicks was unable to cheer him up. In one particular example, Nicks said that Buckingham couldn’t properly perform a guitar riff.
“I was also pissed off because he hadn’t gotten the guitar part on. So I’m trying to defend [the band’s] point of view and at the same time trying to make him feel better,” she explained. “It doesn’t work. I couldn’t be all those things.”
Stevie Nicks said the attraction to Lindsey Buckingham will never go away
Even decades after their split, Nicks says that the attraction between herself and Buckingham hasn’t gone away. Both understand that the relationship is over, but there will always be a spark between them.
“That electric crazy attraction between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks never dies, never will die, never will go away,” she said. “He’s married, he’s happy, he has three beautiful children that I love. You know, he’s found a good, happy, calm, safe place — but who Lindsey and I are to each other will never change.”
