Stevie Nicks Said Lindsey Buckingham’s Treatment of Harry Styles Was Partially Responsible for His Firing From Fleetwood Mac

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham have had one of the most turbulent relationships in rock history. The couple were together when they joined Fleetwood Mac, wrote multiple songs about their breakup, and have had explosive fights both on stage and off. In 2018, Nicks declared that she was done with him for good after a benefit concert. She later admitted that his behavior that night, including his treatment of Harry Styles, led her to refuse to work with him again.

Stevie Nicks said Lindsey Buckingham’s behavior at a concert upset her

At the 2018 MusiCares gala, the members of Fleetwood Mac were the guests of honor. The band received the Person of the Year award. What should have been a celebratory night, however, ended badly. By the end of the ceremony, Nicks said she wanted to permanently cut ties with Buckingham.

“It happened one night, not planned, at a MusiCares [benefit concert]. I didn’t even tell anybody it had happened in my head until the whole ceremony was over,” she told Rolling Stone, adding, “I took with me that night a song that I had done with LeAnn Rimes called ‘Borrowed.’ I took it with me to play for him because I thought we could do this song beautifully.”

After he heard the song, Nicks said Buckingham’s mood darkened. The way he treated the people around them, including Styles, made Nicks realize she no longer wanted anything to do with him.

“That’s when he wasn’t very nice to anybody; he wasn’t very nice to Harry Styles,” she said. “I could hear my mom saying, ‘Are you really going to spend the next 15 years of your life with this man?’ I could hear my very pragmatic father — and by the way, my mom and dad liked Lindsey a lot — saying, ‘It’s time for you guys to get a divorce.’ Between those two, I said, ‘I’m done.’”

Not long afterwards, Fleetwood Mac fired Buckingham.

Stevie Nicks said she wasn’t responsible for firing Lindsey Buckingham

While Buckingham blamed Nicks for his firing, she said she was not responsible. She told her bandmates that she would not perform with him again, and they chose to keep her over him.

“To be exceedingly clear, I did not have him fired, I did not ask for him to be fired, I did not demand he be fired,” she said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Frankly, I fired myself.  I proactively removed myself from the band and a situation I considered to be toxic to my well-being. I was done. If the band went on without me, so be it.”

Since then, Fleetwood Mac has stopped touring, with no plans to reunite.

She has a close relationship with Harry Styles

Nicks bristled at Buckingham’s treatment of Styles because she has a friendly relationship with him. They met in 2015, and she has been a fan of him ever since.

“He’s that kind of a friend,” she said on The Zane Lowe Interview Series podcast. “He’s a brother, and a son, and maybe that we were best, best friends in another life or something. I don’t know. But yes, we’re very close.”

He is one of many young artists Nicks has befriended in recent years.