Sir Paul McCartney<\/a> has been fielding fan requests for over 60 years, but there\u2019s one he will always refuse to do \u2013 and that\u2019s posing for selfies. <\/p>\n The 83-year-old, who was a founding member of The Beatles before going solo in 1970, opened up about how fame has changed throughout his career in a new podcast interview. <\/p>\n Speaking to The Rest is Entertainment<\/a>\u2019s Richard Osman<\/a> and Marina Hyde, he said that phones have changed everything when it comes to fan interactions. <\/p>\n \u201cNow \u2013 phones. So if I meet someone, they\u2019re reaching for their phone, and I say: \u2018I\u2019m sorry, I don\u2019t do pictures.\u2019 And that is radical these days,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cI told that to Oprah \u2013 I’m name-dropping now \u2013 and she said, \u2018You don’t do pictures?\u2019 I said, \u2018No.\u2019 She said, \u2018Why?\u2019 I said, \u2018I don’t want to.\u2019 It’s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n As for why he always declines selfie requests, the singer-songwriter said that he doesn\u2019t want to feel like the performing monkey that he sees on the beachfront in Saint-Tropez.<\/p>\n \u201cThe minute I start thinking I\u2019m something above myself, I won\u2019t like me. It\u2019s very important for me to just be me,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo I say to people: I don\u2019t want to do photos. And they say, \u2018Why?\u2019 And I say, \u2018I’ll tell you what…\u2019 \u2013 and I go into this long explanation about how, down on the south coast of France in Saint-Tropez, there\u2019s a man on the beachfront who has a monkey, and you pay to have your photo taken with the monkey. <\/p>\n \u201cI really do not want to feel like that monkey. And when I take a picture with someone, I do feel like him. I\u2019m not me anymore \u2013 I\u2019m suddenly something else.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere during the interview, Sir Paul also hit out at the modern day influencer culture, admitting that he \u201cjust doesn\u2019t really get it\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not that generation. But you can\u2019t help seeing it,\u201d he said. \u201cMy wife will be looking at Instagram and showing me something, and then one of those will come on. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it’s funny \u2013 and I suppose it always happened \u2013 but people who don\u2019t seem to be particularly talented are incredibly famous. Billions of hits and views. You\u2019ve got to be careful about talking about that, because it makes you sound very old-fashioned. Which I am.\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Paul is married to former New England Motor Freight vice president Nancy Shevell, with the pair tying the knot in 2011. He was previously married to first wife, Linda McCartney, from 1969 until her death in 1998, and then businesswoman Heather Mills from 2002 until their divorce in 2008. <\/p>\n![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-14-at-10-32-10.png\")
Sir Paul McCartney speaking to Marina Hyde and Richard Osman (The Rest is Entertainment)<\/p>\n![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-(9).png\")
Sir Paul McCartney hit out at influencer culture: \u2019People who don’t seem to be particularly talented are incredibly famous.\u2019 (Getty)<\/p>\n