Patrisha Shnier is a Canadian woman, popular for being the ex-wife of Don McLean, a singer and songwriter from the United States of America, known for a 1971 hit song titled American Pie. The musician Don McLean, whose career has been active from 1964 to date, has been married twice, and both marriages have ended in a divorce.
Patrisha happens to have been the second wife of Don, who claims to have been maltreated by his parents and sister when growing up, according to his Wikipedia page. His inability to maintain his marriages could be attributed to his poor upbringing.
Who is Patrisha Shnier?
Patrisha Shnier was born in Timmins, Canada in 1959. She is 64 years old at the time of writing this blog post. She was born five years after her ex-husband, Don, started his career in 1964. Her nationality is Canadian, and she belongs to the white race. She is distinguished by her beautiful blonde hair and dim eyes.
Though Patrisha was born in Timmins, she grew up in Montreal with her parents, whom she has not disclosed any information about. Later her family moved to San Francisco, where she had most of her adult life.
Her educational background is unknown. She prefers to keep her personal life away from the public domain. On the other hand, her ex-husband, Don Mclean, attended Iona Preparatory School in New York and later attended Villanova University for only four months. He dropped out to pursue his musical career.
Patrisha Shnier is a photographer and an author by profession. She has done amazing work in her career. Most of her works have been exhibited in various museums across the world. Some museums where her works are displayed include the Portland Museum of Arts and the Farnsworth Museum.
She sometimes makes her photographs into a book. One such book is titled My Island, a book released in 2015. The book shows over one hundred black-and-white pictures of children who live on Maine islands. In an interview, she disclosed that it took her over five years to assemble the book titled ”My Island”.
After her divorce from Don McLean, Patricia runs a non-governmental organization that seeks to help and educate people on domestic violence. The name of her organization is Finding Our Voices. She also makes portraits of domestic violence survivors.
Patrisha’s marriage to Don McLean
An article on Irishtimes.com revealed that Patrisha Shnier first met her ex-husband, Don McLean when she used to work as a reporter. The two former lovers met in 1987. Patrisha heard that Don was in town, and she arranged for an interview.
They started dating two months after the interview and married a few months later. The wedding ceremony of the former couple took place on March 13, 1987, in a private location. Their union lasted for 29 years, and they divorced in 2016.
Patrisha Shnier and Don McLean divorced due to domestic violence. Patrisha accused the American Pie singer of abusing her physically and emotionally. The marriage came to an end after Don allegedly assaulted his former wife. Patrisha locked herself in the bathroom and called the Police, who came to arrest Don after an interview with both former couples.
The divorce was officially settled in March 2016. The court also issued a ten-year restraining order against Don. He was also made to pay various fines. The former couple’s divorce was the talk of the media, as it was controversial. The former couple revealed most information about the divorce in a series of interviews years after the divorce.
Patrisha had two children with Don McLean. The children are Wyatt McLean and Jackie McLean. Jackie came out in a series of interviews to expose his father’s abusive behavior. This caused her father to cut her off financially. Patrisha came out to slam her former husband for the action.
Where is Patrisha Shnier now?
After the messy divorce between Patrisha Shnier and her ex-husband, the ”one hit wonder” musician Don McLean; she now manages her domestic violence organization. She has also remained single after the divorce and is currently single. She has kept most of her life far away from the media attention.
On the other hand, Don has not married again since the divorce but has been involved romantically with other women.