In a new interview with CBS Sunday Morning, legendary singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks opened up about why she feels it’s important to discuss reproductive rights in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, saying her decision to obtain an abortion in 1979 was paramount to Fleetwood Mac’s continuance.
The Grammy winner said she took all the necessary precautions to prevent pregnancy, had an IUD and a “great gynecologist,” but still got pregnant while in a relationship with Eagles vocalist Don Henley.
“I’m like, ‘This can’t be happening,’” she told correspondent Tracy Smith. “Fleetwood Mac is three years in and it’s big. And we’re going into our third album. It was like, ‘Oh, no no no no no.’ It would have destroyed Fleetwood Mac. Absolutely.”
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While Nicks said she would have tried her “best to get through being in the studio every single day, expecting a child,” it would not have “gone over well” with bandmate and ex-partner Lindsey Buckingham. “It would have been a nightmare scenario for me to live through,” she said.
The twice Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee concluded, “[Ultimately, the choice] was mine. And you know what? If people wanna be mad at me, be mad at me. I don’t care. Had I made the other choice, had I gone the other way, I would have been a great mom. I went this way, and I’ve done great.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Nicks opened up about returning to the Saturday Night Live performing stage after more than 40 years, during which she performed her new song “The Lighthouse,” about women’s empowerment and rights.
“I said, ‘Absolutely not,’” Nicks said of her initial reaction to being summoned to SNL‘s Studio 8H. “Because I was terrified to do it because it goes out live.”
Of course, the “Edge of Seventeen” musician eventually decided in favor of the reprisal. Speaking to her inspiration behind “The Lighthouse,” Nicks said it was written and recorded in a day in the months following the infamous decision to overturn federal abortion protection.
“Everybody kept saying, ‘Well, somebody has to do something. Somebody has to say something. And I’m like, ‘Well I have a platform. I tell a good story, so maybe I should try to do something.’ I was also there. I was, ‘Been there, done that,’” she said.
This isn’t the first time the vocalist has spoken up about her personal decision and how it relates to her politics. During a sprawling profile with Rolling Stone, during which she also discussed Daisy Jones & the Six and Stereophonic, Nicks related the track to the upcoming presidential election and what’s at stake for women’s freedoms.
“We are the women that can tell all these young women from 15 up to 45,” she said. “We are that light that goes out, and we bring the ships in so they don’t crash. We save lives every day. The way I feel about this upcoming election is that Kamala Harris is the lighthouse, too.”
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