Christine McVie quit Fleetwood Mac over flying phobia

Christine McVie quit Fleetwood Mac because she developed a fear of flying.

The 73-year-old singer used to whizz around the globe for the ‘Go Your Own Way’ rockers’ mammoth tours on their own private jets, but she slowly developed a phobia of flying and had to leave the band 18 years ago because she couldn’t bring herself to step foot on a plane.

Speaking on UK station BBC Radio 2 on Wednesday (09.21.16), she said: "It must have been six years ago or seven. It was when I did a little tour of an album but at the time I was so frightened of flying that I couldn’t promote it. That was a big thing, I had a real phobia of flying. I think I did one too many (trips in private planes). I think that’s kind of why I left the band."

The British songwriter – who was married to her bandmate John McVie from 1968 until 1976 – later went to therapy to help her beat her extreme phobia.

She explained: "The flying thing isn’t a problem anymore. I just went to therapy and they said where would you most like to go in the world and I said Maui in Hawaii because (co-founder of the band) Mick (Fleetwood) frequented in Maui and he and I had stayed in touch through those years a lot so they said, ‘Well get a ticket to Mawi, you don’t have to get on the plane, just get the ticket.’ "

And Christine didn’t have to make the trip on her own as the 69-year-old drummer asked if he could accompany her across to Maui with him.

She said: "So bizarrely Mick was coming to London and he said, ‘Well if you’re going to Maui, wait for me to come to London and we’ll fly back there together.’ And we did and I didn’t even notice the plane taking off. I love flying now."

Fleetwood Mac formed in 1967, and over the years has had a number of different band members, but were inactive for two years from 1995.

Christine rejoined the group – comprised now of Mick, John, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks – in 2014 following 15 years away from the stage.

During the time she was solo, Christine also released three solo albums ‘Christine Perfect’, Christine McVie’ and ‘In the Meantime’.