She was at the peak of her powers with Fleetwood Mac when she became romantically involved with Eagles drummer Don Henley and discovered she was pregnant despite having an IUD, and she was stunned.
The artist performs with Fleetwood Mac at the Cow Palace on December 12, 1979 in San Francisco, California.
“I got pregnant and it was like why? I have an IUD, I am totally protected, I have a great gynecologist. How come this has happened?” she recalled.
The artist is seen at a Fleetwood Mac press conference on November 9, 1979 in New York City.
She chose to terminate the pregnancy. The band was three years in and gaining serious momentum, recording their third album. Having a child with Henley, she reasoned, would have created an impossible situation particularly with Buckingham still in the picture.
The artist performs onstage during the US Festival on May 30, 1983 Ontario, California.
“It would have destroyed Fleetwood Mac,” she said. “I would have like tried my best to get through being in the studio every single day, expecting a child. But mostly, having a child with Don Henley would not have gone over big in Fleetwood Mac, with Lindsay and me who we had been broken up for two or three years. It would have been a nightmare scenario for me to live through.”
The artist poses for a portrait on September 19, 1986.
And yet, she held no bitterness about the road not taken. “Had I made the other choice, had I gone the other way, I’d have been a great mom. I went this way and I’ve done great,” she reflected.
The artist performing on stage at Wembley Arena on November 28, 1989 in London, England.
