Amy Macdonald claims the abuse she gets from being married to former Rangers star Richard Foster is “not pleasant but is like water off a duck’s back now”.
The singer has been married to the footballer since 2018.
In April, Richard had to be held back by Partick Thistle team-mates after he had a spat with a fan during a match against Ayr United.
He revealed he had been provoked by sectarian taunts and later discovered there had been slurs about Amy, which became apparent in video footage.
Weeks afterwards, Richard, who also works as a BBC pundit, left Thistle after his two-year contract expired.
Speaking about the incident for the first time, lifelong Rangers fan Amy, 34, from Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, said: “I don’t pay much attention to fans shouting things as it’s something I’ve had to deal with since we’ve been together.
“It’s not pleasant but it’s water off a duck’s back now. I try not think or worry about it. A football crowd isn’t particularly savoury sometimes.”
Amy has tried to keep her relationship with Richard separate from her music career but the pair did team up at Hogmanay on STV’s Bringing in the Bells programme.
She said: “I spend a lot of time taking the p**s out of him in my Instagram stories and STV got in touch.
“We were happy enough to go along. It’s always a bit strange doing things together as I’ve always been very separate with that part of my life but it was good fun and came across OK on TV.”
Amy had to deal with sexist abuse online when she supported Alex McLeish’s appointment as Scotland manager, for the second time, in 2018.
She has also hit out at men who shout out derogatory comments to female musicians at music gigs.
Amy said: “In this day and age it’s a bit strange that some men still think it’s OK to shout things like that to women.”
There has been a debate in Scotland about the lack of female headline acts.
In 2019, after there was anger at the gender imbalance at TRNSMT, festival boss Geoff Ellis got into deeper hot water by claiming women need to “pick up guitars” to get on festival line-ups.
Tonight, Amy headlines the second night of the four-day Doune the Rabbit Hole festival at Cardross Estate in Stirlingshire. It also features headline shows by Belle & Sebastian tomorrow and Teenage Fanclub on Sunday.
Punk legend Patti Smith was the top act last night, making it a rare female headlining double.
Tonight will not be the first time Amy has headlined – she was given the honour in 2009 in Germany, where she is one of the country’s biggest stars. She also headlined Wickerman, in Kirkcudbrightshire, in 2013.
On being one of two female leading acts at Doune, she said: “Whenever I see any woman with a guitar on the stage I feel an immense sense of pride.
“It’s so good to have two female headline acts. It’s not something you see often. I think of all the young girls and women who will be inspired by that.
“Patti Smith is an icon. It’s amazing to have someone of her stature come over and play a festival in Scotland. She continues to inspire females.”
Amy believes Ellis’s comments were probably taken out of context and feels the bigger issue is female musicians having to prove their worth more than their male counterparts.
She said: “I don’t think Geoff was saying that in the way it came across. I’ve had great support here for festival slots.
“It’s more of a thing across the board. A lot of females artists still find they have to jump through more hoops than their male contemporaries to get to that position.
“It’s radio play, TV slots and promo. I still think it’s harder for a female. Women are judged on way more aspects than men are.”
Much of that is how they look and, of course, their body shape.
Amy added: “It goes back to record labels. They always want women to have this image.
“They’ll go, ‘Right, we need to decide what your look is’. That is just so out of date. It should be about the music – that should be the most important thing.
“I think it’s getting better but more work needs to be done.”
Amy also believes headline slots are often decided by which artists are “big” at the time.
She said: “In Britain we can be obsessed with what’s popular. In European countries they tend not to bother about that too much.
“Here there’s a sense that it’s a little bit fickle and if you’re not the in-thing at that moment then nobody is interested.”
Amy, whose debut album This is the Life was a UK No1 in 2007 has continued to enjoy great success and released her fifth studio album, The Human Demands, in 2020. It became her fifth top 10 album.
Last Friday she released a new EP, Don’t Tell Me It’s Over, which reimagines three of her songs – the title track, Run and Slow It Down. She decided to re-record them to fit in with the production of The Human Demands so when she plays the old and new songs they sound cohesive.
Amy said: “I don’t ever like to go too far away from the sound of my records as that’s what got me to this position.
“But when you’ve played these songs for 15 years it’s nice to mix them up a little bit. When I listen back to the old recordings, I can’t believe how different I sound. It emphasises how much stronger my voice is now and makes the songs sound fresher, I think.”
Amy will play festivals every week from now until the end of August. Then, after a month’s break, she will go on an orchestra tour across Europe with Night of the Proms.
She’s excited about Doune and being alongside the other headliners, but said: “I still kind of feel like I’m winging it and have been for 15 years. I don’t really feel on the same level but I’m always happy to be there and do my thing.”
● Amy headlines Doune tonight. For tickets go to dounetherabbithole.co.uk. Her latest EP, Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over, is out now.
