Who is Andy Bird?

When I first speak to Andy Bird, by telephone, his 発言する／表明する is 深い and laconic: the 肉親，親類d of 発言する／表明する that might, indeed, 示唆する romance.

When we 会合，会う, he is more shy and diffident than I 推定する／予想する. He is tall, with long, dark hair swept 支援する from his 直面する, and striking green 注目する，もくろむs. But at 36, he 陳列する，発揮するs an unhealthy pallor, honed on a diet of 国会 Coke and Marlboro cigarettes.

Later, when he shows me a picture of himself with Madonna and Lourdes, I am surprised by how much brighter and healthier he appears. The 介入するing years, you sense, have left their 示す on Andy Bird.

His parents, he says, were middle-class 無所属の政治家s who left the city to start a new life in the Warwickshire countryside when he was two. They kept pigs and lived their 見解／翻訳／版 of The Good Life.

At school - first a 地元の 最初の／主要な, then a nearby prep school, followed by a 包括的な - Andy was an unacademic student, spending most of his time 'messing around with friends in 禁止（する）d'.

After school, he went to London to 熟考する／考慮する design at Kingston Polytechnic. When he left, he drifted. Good-looking and 平易な-going, he began modelling - his trip to America was partly 財政／金融d by a (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing 外見 in a Kentucky Fried Chicken 商業の - and made karaoke ビデオs.

Affable and relaxed, he made friends easily. 'I was 会合 lots of different people, going to trendy 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s, 存在 put on the 権利 guest 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s,' he 解任するs.

By the time he met Madonna, he had, he says 本気で, 500 friends. His social life 回転するd around 流行の／上流の restaurants such as 192 in Notting Hill, his gym on Portobello Green and the Met 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業, where he was friends with the 経営者／支配人.

Many of his friends were connected to the マスコミ. It should have been obvious that, when he began a 関係 with Madonna, there was no chance of it staying secret.

Five hundred 'friends' were ready to sell （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） to the newspa pers. To Andy's surprise - if no one else's - his old, bohemian 存在 would 爆発する in his 直面する.

支援する in the autumn of 1997, though, Notting Hill felt far away. Andy was in LA and caught up in a burgeoning love 事件／事情／状勢. Madonna was working in the studio, finishing her bestselling album, Ray Of Light. Andy spent almost every night with her, staying at her house in Los Felix.

Quickly Andy's life fell into a 決まりきった仕事. In the morning, he and Madonna would wake 早期に and take it in turns to make the coffee. Then, while she practised yoga for a couple of hours, he would play with Lourdes - Lola, as her mother called her - or 始める，決める up 会合s for his still unrealised film 事業／計画（する）.

In the evenings they would 会合，会う for dinner, いつかs at a tiny macrobiotic restaurant - 'really good and really cheap' - and maybe watch a film.

He also spent time with the 残り／休憩（する） of the 世帯: Daisy the maid, Lola's nanny Clara, and Manuel the gardener. When I 会合，会う Andy, at a hotel in England, he 速く befriends every waiter; in LA, though he was dating a superstar, his behaviour was no different.

He rented a Dodge 選ぶ-up and often would 会合，会う Madonna and follow her in his car. It was a 早い introduction to one of his new girlfriend's surprising quirks - her terrible sense of direction.

'I'd only been there a short time, but I'd still work out we were going 完全に the wrong way,' he remembers.

'に引き続いて her was a nightmare. You'd be at traffic lights, and out of nowhere she'd 辛勝する／優位 her way across the 小道／航路s and be in the 小道／航路 for turning left, and there was no way you could follow her.

'It's ironic really: somebody with so much direction in their life not to have a 手がかり（を与える） where they were going.'

While he struggled with her 運動ing, Madonna would try to get him to wear new 着せる／賦与するs.

'She's given やめる a lot of stuff by designers and fashion companies, and so a 黒人／ボイコット velvet 控訴 showed up that, than kfully, I didn't fit into. Then there was a velvet 二塁打-breasted coat - all Dolce & Gabbana - that was too big.

'It was a bit like getting 現在のs from your granny at Christmas: things you'd wear for a couple of days, just to please them, and then forget about.'

For the most part, though, the couple enjoyed their new-設立する closeness. 'For both of us there was a real sense of familiarity. You know, when you feel you've met somebody before,' says Andy.

'My feelings were strong, and so were hers. There was a powerful physical and emotional attraction between us.

'There was also a sense of vulnerability, the way there is when you 会合，会う someone new. She would ask my opinion on a lot of things.

'At that time, Lola was いっそう少なく than a year old. Madonna was 自信のない about motherhood - what was normal and what wasn't. I helped out as much as I could.'

In the beginning, Andy had ーするつもりであるd to go to LA for just three weeks. In fact, swept up in the passion of a new 関係, three months passed before he began to think about coming home.

That November, Madonna was visiting Britain to 準備する for the 解放（する） of Ray Of Light. Andy was short of money and starting to feel homesick. They decided to come to London together, as a couple.

Andy （機の）カム over a few days before her. 'It was brilliant to be 支援する. I knew I'd 行方不明になるd my friends, but I'd been in such a cocoon I hadn't realised how much,' he says.

Three days later, Madonna's 私的な jet landed at Luton airport. Andy 選ぶd her up in a 範囲 Rover with 黒人／ボイコットd-out windows,.

'It was 広大な／多数の／重要な to see her again. She was staying at a house in Tregunter Road, の近くに to The Boltons, one of the most 排除的 areas of South Kensington. It was a 肉親，親類d of unspoken 仮定／引き受けること that we'd be there together.'

For a day or two, no one knew about it. Then Andy took her to a friend's birthday party. Next day, he says ruefully, everything went craz y: their 関係 was frontpage news.

'It was just awful,' Andy remembers, 縮むing into his 議長，司会を務める. 'My phone rang incessantly, stories were 存在 written about me, I was 存在 followed.

'One of the red-最高の，を越す tabloids printed a number for anyone who knew mystery man Andy Bird to call. There was even a phone-in on 無線で通信する 1 for people to say what they thought about Madonna's 最新の choice of boyfriend.'

For Andy, the マスコミ 猛攻撃 was a total shock. 'I knew they'd all be 利益／興味d in her, but I didn't really think they'd care about who she was dating.

'I know it sounds ridiculous now, and I was 明白に 存在 downright stupid, but I just perceived me as 存在 me and I knew her as somebody else - my girlfriend.'

Surely Madonna herself must have known what would happen? 'You would have thought so, but I don't think she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 認める the fact it might have a detrimental 影響 on us, or on me.

'Also, after 15 or 20 years in the スポットライト it becomes normal, I imagine. It only became an 問題／発行する after my reaction to it. It made me really 孤立した. I felt paranoid. I hadn't realised I would care what anyone wrote about me, but it really did upset me.'

Most hurtfully, says Andy, he was labelled a 'wannabe'.

'The 関わりあい／含蓄 was that the only way I was going to get fame and success and some 外見 of a career was by hanging about with Madonna. That 傷つける my pride a lot.'

The differences between them, which in America had hardly 事柄d, were rammed in their 直面するs in Britain.

At the same time, Andy was still trying to 扱う／治療する Madonna like any other girlfriend. He took her to friends' flats in West London. 'Most people were 罰金, but some were horrified at the idea of this superstar coming into their homes. "No! It's filthy!" they'd say. "You mustn't come!"

'Others went wild with excitement and you'd think: "For God's sake, 静める 負かす／撃墜する."

Madonna, he says, was charming and polite. 'I think maybe she felt like a novelty, 存在 wheeled about. I think she's やめる shy in a 確かな way. But she was my girlfriend and I 手配中の，お尋ね者 her to 会合，会う my friends.'

Andy was also keen to introduce Madonna to his parents, Horace and Kathleen. 'I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to show her another 味方する of me, to show her where I grew up. I didn't 想像する spending a lot of time with them; just introducing her and going for a country 運動 perhaps.

'I rang my parents and said: "Please don't make any more 成果／努力 than you 普通は would," and they were 罰金.'

On a Sunday afternoon, Andy drove Madonna and Lola to the large house his parents built 30 years ago 近づく the village of Clifford 議会s in Warwickshire. With its wide, pitched roof and 隣接するing garage, it looks like the 肉親，親類d of house stockbrokers retire to.

The three of them arrived late. 'It took us ages to get out of London because we were having to sort the baby out and を取り引きする the paparazzi waiting outside our house.

'And, of course, Americans only 運動 at 50mph, so me doing 90 mph 負かす／撃墜する the motorway didn't go 負かす／撃墜する very 井戸／弁護士席 at all.

'We didn't 現実に get there until 4pm, and when my parents opened the door they were dressed in their best 着せる／賦与するs. They saw my 直面する and said: "This isn't for you - we're going to a drinks party. We can only stay 20 minutes."

'My mum said to Madonna something like: "Oh, let me give you a kiss, because I kiss all of Andrew's girlfriends." Then she got the baby photos out: "Here's Andrew naked in the 沈む at three months old."

Few families, you imagine, would have 反応するd so calmly to a pop icon sitting on their sofa. Andy's, he explains, is different: 'They hardly watch TV and don't read tabloid newspapers. I suppose you could say the whole 教団 of celebrity has passed them by.

'They were at their 緩和する - they're very 負かす／撃墜する-to-earth people. They were more worried about 存在 late for their dri nks party than anything else.'

There was, however, one 予期しない hitch. A paparazzi photographer had followed them from London and was waiting outside the house.

'That made it very difficult,' says Andy, still indignant at the 侵入占拠. 'We had to draw the curtains so he couldn't see in.'

Andy was angry - most of all with himself, for bringing his parents into the public 注目する，もくろむ. All the same, he 追加するs, he 結局 took the photographer a cup of tea and some home-made cake. 'I felt sorry for him,' he explains helplessly.

Next day, he was shocked to find the visit was a major news story. 'I still had no idea that my parents' house would be on the 前線 page of one of the tabloids. When I saw that, I realised the whole visit was a mistake. I didn't want to 伴う／関わる my parents in all that.'

For both him and Madonna, the 緊張する was starting to tell. 'I was starting to 身を引く into myself. She could tell I wasn't happy.

'We tried to make light of it, but the 状況／情勢 had changed. It did get to me, and I didn't 扱う it very 井戸／弁護士席. I was 脅すd to answer my phone. My stomach churns just talking about it.

'We still really cared about each other, but I was becoming much more aware of how difficult life would be with her.

She was 失望させるd that this stuff upset me. At one point she said to me: "Oh Andrew, you love me, but you hate my life." That was 完全に true. But what do you do in that 状況／情勢? I still loved 存在 in her company. I thought the papers would get bored. But I 手配中の，お尋ね者 my freedom 支援する.'

Late one night, when their visit to London was の近くに to an end, he went for a 運動 on his own. 'I needed to think about the whole 状況／情勢.

'I was 尋問 everything. I'd begun to feel that perhaps I really was this no-hoper everyone said I was. I didn't want to end the 関係, but I had to 証明する I wasn't just trying to ride on Madonna's coat-tails.'

Finally, after 運動ing for many hours, Andy made his 決定／判定勝ち（する）. He would not go 支援する to America with Madonna, but stay in London and 再構築する his life. He hoped their 関係 could 生き残る; if not, he would have to 受託する it.

When he got 支援する to Tregunter Road, Madonna was waiting for him. 'She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know where I'd been for all this time.

'I just said: "Listen, I've been thinking and I've got something to tell you." Before I could say another word, she said: "井戸／弁護士席, I've got something to tell you, too." And that's when she told me she was having a baby.'

The pregnancy was 全く 予期しない - 'We were careful,' says Andy, his 発言する／表明する a whisper. 'I was numb, shocked, happy, panicked, sad, tired. I was looking into her 注目する，もくろむs, trying 猛烈に to see how she felt.

'When you're really fond of someone, there's a part of you that's happy in that 状況／情勢; another part that thinks: "Oh no." It was very 早期に days in our 関係, and I was beginning to realise events were running me, not the other way 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

'I was 十分な of self-疑問 anyway, because of all the things that were 存在 written about me in the newspapers. I wasn't sure I should even be 許すd to father a child. I was in a tumultuous 明言する／公表する, but trying my hardest to be 静める.'

His main 関心 was for Madonna. 'When someone tells you that 肉親，親類d of news, your 圧倒的な sense is to know how they are. A man feels that even more 熱心に, because it's something that goes on in the other person's 団体／死体 and you're 完全に 削減（する） off from it.'

He pauses, looking helpless. 'I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to do the 権利 thing,' he says. 'Whatever that was.'

As we will see in the next part of this series, the next few days were to be a turning point in the lives of Andy Bird and Madonna. Both, it seems （疑いを）晴らす, are haunted by what happened to this day.