Despite reports less than a month ago that estranged spouses Heather Mills and Paul McCartney were on the brink of resolving their divorce battle, things have gone completely the other direction since Heather's emotional TV appearances last week.

Heather vs. the Media

Calling herself a "dormant volcano" waiting to explode as a result of the "abuse" she's been dealt, Heather told Britain's GMTV last week that the media has spread horrible lies about her:

"Everything they write is complete rubbish. They've called me a 'whore', a 'gold-digger,' a 'fantasist,' a 'liar' and the most unbelievably hurtful things. ... I've been so close to suicide so upset about this. I've had worse threats than a paedophile or a murderer and I've done nothing but charity for the last 20 years!

"A certain part of the tabloid media created such a hate campaign against me, that they put my life and my daughter's life at risk. That's why I considered killing myself because I thought, if I'm dead, [Beatrice's] safe and she can be with her father. And that's the truth. I'm sick of it."

"My plan is to change the law in the European parliament. And I will do it. I will investigate each and every one of those journalists."

Heather went so far as to compare herself to Princess Diana, saying "What are we doing as a nation? What did they do to Diana? They Chased her and killer her," suggesting that she sees a similar fate for herself.

Heather vs. Paul

Complaining that she has been "persecuted" by the media because she has stayed quiet "to protect Paul and my daughter" - Heather said that Paul for his part "has done nothing to protect me."

Rebutting claims that she has refused divorce settlement offers and claiming that she is nearly $3 million in debt in divorce lawyer fees, Heather exclaimed: "I've been offered nothing, okay? Nothing! And that's as much as I can say now, or I go to jail for telling the truth."

She went on to imply that Paul is cheap, stating that the biggest source of contention in the marriage was over what to do with McCartney's fortunes."How can anybody have that kind of money and not do more for charity? That's what we argued

about all the time."

Heather also complained to Extra about Paul's daughter, Stella McCartney:

"Every single week Stella tried to break up our marriage. She was so jealous. Stella wasn't interested in her dad's happiness. I can't protect her any longer... she's done some evil, evil things... we found out she scraped my face out a photo when they were in psychiatric session together."

Hahaha! I know that probably wasn't meant to be funny. . . but, it was. And if the recent rumors that Stella recently created a new line of jewelry featuring a "single-leg pendant" to mock her stepmother's disability, then I believe it! Talk about brutal!

The Backlash Against Heather...

As she expected, Heather's emotional outbursts about the media and her future ex-husband have not been well-received. British tabloids immediately ripped her interviews to shreds, calling them "bizarre, unnhinged ranting" and calling Heather "out of control" and "in need of help."

Paul's "corner" was also quick to counter Heather's criticism by pointing out her character defects - and even suggest her to be an unfit parent, according to a recent article about Paul's fears that Heather's TV rants "will have a negative impact" on their daughter Beatrice:

A friend of Sir Paul told The Sun that the rants would only serve to damage Mills in the eyes of the public:

"His biggest fear is that Heather's comments will harm Beatrice. What she has said is not healthy for anyone and in particular their daughter."

"People will see what he had to put up with. Paul has too much dignity to respond to her claims."

Sir Paul's cousin, comedian Kate Robbins, also chimes in on Stella's behalf, saying Heather couldn't be more wrong about Stella: "Stella is a lovely person. She is kind, generous and absolutely peaceful." Kate goes on to call Heather a "liar" for saying that Paul is cheap: "If you knew how much he gives to different charities you would be gobsmacked."

I almost want to feel sorry for Heather, because - for whatever reason - the press really does seem to hate her - and she has overcome a TON of obstacles in her life.

But then I hear event the most objective of witnesses attesting to what a royal pain Heather is. Take Barbara Walters, for instance, who recently dished (watch video) on her past experiences with the Brit:

"This is not a very nice woman. The first time, I was very touched by her, she had been in an accident, she'd lost her leg." But by visit #2, not so much. "One of our producers gave her a glass of water, she said, 'this glass of water is not room temperature'... she was so impossible.'"

Well it seems obvious that pretty much everyone - from the media to friends and family of the couple - sides with Paul. Will the law follow suit? It certainly won't help that Heather has publicly called herself a "dormant volcano" (ready to explode), admitted to considering suicide and said she constantly receives "death threats" - which could result in the harm of her and Paul's daughter, Beatrice, as well.

Heather's dramatic statements may be arousing sympathy for some, but they are goin to burn her more than help her - because they just reflect that she is totally emotionally unstable!

Who's side are you on?

Today I heard Heidi Montag's and Spencer Pratt's second radio interview in 48 hours - an interview which was used predominantly to bash the couple's former Hills co-star Lauren Conrad.

On the Ryan Seacrest show this morning, Spencer and Heidi said they were "shocked" and outraged by Lauren Conrad's recent 6-page interview in a recent issue of Us Magazine. Lauren's interview is one of few scenarios in which the reality star has opened up, and she definitely does spill some nasty gossip - but the backlash from Heidi and Spencer seems a bit over the top.

Spencer Pratt quickly responded to the publication with a seething rant on his website which starts off with "for all you haters" and takes some pretty sever jabs at LC, calling her "boyfriend stealer", "desperate loser" and "pathetic wannabe fashion designer." He also attacks Lauren's love life, confirming the existence of a sex tape and claiming that three of LC's previous boyfriends call her "beef curtains."

More childish name-calling was doled out during Spencer's interview with Ryan Seacrest this morning, in which he stated that he has no remorse for his blog: "that was just one page, if I had written 6 then we would be even." For her part, Heidi had little to say about her former BFF other than to point the blame at Lauren for making her choose between Spencer and her friend. "It's very sad in a way how everything happened but, you know, it is what it is and I'm not the one who chose this, you know, it was her," said Heidi.

To most of us who have ever watched even 15 minutes of The Hills, what is really sad is that Heidi is too dimwitted to see what Lauren did see - that Spencer was threatened by Lauren's skepticism of his womanizing ways and prompted Spencer to manipulate the two girls against each other.

It should speak volumes that the LC vs. Heidi feud has split more favorably toward the LC team. Hills co-stars Whitney Port and Audrina Patridge have shown such loyalty to Lauren that Heidi had to arrange a separate photoshoot for the third season premiere. And now Brody Jenner has joined the LC bandwagon, effectively breaking off his ten-year friendship with Spencer and joining the anti-Spencer ranks, along with Joel Madden and Nicole Richie. Last month Joel Madden was so infuriated by inflammatory comments Spencer had made about Nicole's weight that he was ready to throw down in the middle of the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Not that Spencer or Heidi are likely to mind that sort of media attention. Although Heidi fiercely denies that she has been focusing her career on anything but her music recording, much of her behavior would suggest otherwise. Both she and Spencer have set off "attention whore" alarms by groping each other publicly and crashing events where they knew LC was present. And why wouldn't the couple try to generate publicity for themselves? After all, Lauren was the show's epicenter for two whole season's of Laguna Beach before Heidi entered the picture merely as Lauren's college roommate. And Spencer Pratt, who only managed to appear on the show after manipulating his way into Heidi's life, has used the show to launch multiple careers which include managing Heidi Montag and his reality co-star Brody Jenner, who also appeared on The Hills as one of LC's aforementioned exes.

Season 3 of The Hills airs next Monday, August 13th, and it should be interesting to see how it all goes down. Is Spencer really as much of an asshole as he seems? Is Lauren really as sweet as she acts on-camera? Is Heidi really that dumb? The show may be scripted, but for what it's worth, this feud seems pretty real. Let's see just how juicy it will get!