Don McLean and his girlfriend Paris Dylan were spotted in Manchester on Friday, prior to Don’s performance at Bridgewater Hall, where they were both scheduled to appear.
The American Pie singer, who is 76 years old, and his model girlfriend, who is 28 years old, maintained a low profile as they strolled around the city in the hours before Don was scheduled to perform on stage as part of his American Pie 50th Anniversary Tour.
Don wore a pair of charcoal pants and a shirt with a navy collar to create an easygoing look. He topped this off with an autumnal rain jacket to keep warm.
He protected his eyes with a pair of square reflective sunglasses and made sure he was comfortable by wearing a pair of grey slip-on trainers with a slip-on style.
Paris, who is 48 years his junior, looked stylish in black fitted leggings and a burgundy vest top, which she teamed with a grey hoodie and a sleeveless denim jacket. Her ensemble was completed with black fitted leggings.
She finished off her fashionable getup with a pair of white sneakers, and she carried all of her essentials in a tote bag from Urban Outfitters.
A glamorous full-coverage makeup palette, a dab of pink lipstick, and a slick of eyeliner were some of the finishing touches that Paris applied to her face in order to bring out her already stunning features.
She wore a pair of square-shaped black sunglasses on her head and styled her dark hair in a carefree manner, creating natural-looking curls that she then pushed back behind her ears.
Following his divorce from his former wife Patrisha Shnier in 2016, the couple has been together for nearly five years and counting.
After Don was arrested on charges of domestic violence, she filed legal documents against him, accusing him of adultery, cruel and abusive treatment, and irreconcilable differences. This led to the breakup of their relationship.
When asked about his relationship with Paris, Don remarked to PEOPLE in the previous year that Paris is “the most wonderful person” he has ever met.
‘Love is the most important thing you can have. You have to love somebody. Hate is such a burden. It’s a complete waste of time. I love my children and I love my girlfriend. I’m crazy for her.’
‘She is the most wonderful person that I have ever known. I think of her when I sing a lot of my songs,’ he said, adding of his song And I Loved You So from his 1970 debut album Tapestry: ‘But I especially think of her when I sing that song.’
He added: ‘I’m honored to have her as a girlfriend and a partner and we have no plans to ever break up. We are going to stay together and ride this pony as long as we can.’
He went on to explain that love was what got him through the challenging times, and he concluded: You have to be in love with something. When I have had bad times in my life, I always loved my guitar. And now, I have Paris.’
The couple made their relationship public on Instagram in 2016, when she posted a photo from their Thanksgiving together along with the caption: ‘I’m thankful for him. Happy Thanksgiving from Don & I.’
A 2011 incident in which she began a relationship with a 33-year-old basketball player named Chris “Birdman” Andersen when she was 17 and exchanged nude photos with him led to her gaining notoriety in a 2017 episode of the show Catfish. The episode was about the incident.
But it turned out that they weren’t actually speaking to each other at all; instead, a Canadian woman by the name of Shelly Chartier was attempting to get money from Andersen.
From 1987 until 2016, Don was married to his now ex-wife, Patrisha Shnier, and together they have a son named Wyatt and a daughter named Jackie.
Two months after Patrisha’s husband was arrested for domestic violence, she filed for divorce, citing ‘adultery, cruel and abusive treatment, and irreconcilable differences’ as the grounds.
Don entered a guilty plea for the charge of assault resulting from domestic violence in July of 2016. At the time, his legal counsel informed him that he would only be required to pay a fine of $3,000 if he avoided legal trouble for an entire year.
Even though he had pleaded guilty, Don insisted he hadn’t been violent, according to his attorney, Walter McKee, who stated this in an interview.
‘Don has been adamant since day one that he did not do what his now ex-wife said he did,’ McKee said.
‘But in the end he decided it was better to just resolve the case now and be done with it by entering pleas with zero jail, zero probation, and only fines.’
