The longstanding rift between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham that led to his ouster from Fleetwood Mac has been healed.
That’s the word from no less an authority than Buckingham himself, who said he and Nicks are now on good terms, with the rancor that has defined their relationship for nearly a decade having been buried.
A Fleetwood Mac Documentary
GettyE! News caught up with Buckingham at Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood event, where he shared an update on the status of his relationship with Nicks.
As he explained, a Fleetwood Mac project has drawn together the surviving members of the group (singer-keyboardist Christine McVie passed away in 2022).
“Fleetwood Mac has been working on a documentary,” Buckingham explained. “I think the process of making that has been a very circular healing process for all of us.”
‘Healed and Worked Out’
While Buckingham neither confirmed nor denied he’d be rejoining the band, he insisted “the most important thing” was that he and his bandmates were now on good terms.
“Because we had left things in 2019, maybe as far as I was concerned, not in a very good place for all the wrong reasons,” he said of his firing from the band.
“No one was happy about it,” he added, “and all of that has been healed and worked out.”
A Volatile Relationship
The relationships between the members of Fleetwood Mac have been tumultuous over the years, and that’s been particularly true when it comes to Buckingham and Nicks.
When the two officially joined Fleetwood Mac on New Year’s Eve of 1974, they were a musical duo in a romantic relationship. After the romance fizzled, the exes remained bandmates.
Now, Buckingham insisted that all was well between him and Nicks. “Stevie and I are talking all the time now,” he shared.
A Fleetwood Mac Reunion?
As for his future plans, Buckingham offered a cryptic comment seemingly hinting at a Fleetwood Mac reunion.
“Next year should be a pretty interesting year,” he said, “because I think quite a few things will reveal themselves.”
If the band were to get back together, fans are here for it — as he pointed out, Fleetwood Mac remains one of the rare rock groups whose popularity hasn’t wanted since their 1970s heyday.
“There are groups that are quite popular in the moment, and maybe 10 years later, everyone’s kind of going, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’” he observed. “Fleetwood Mac was not one of those groups, luckily.”
A Bitter Exit
GettyFans will recall that Buckingham was axed from Fleetwood Mac in 2018, replaced by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Crowded House frontman Neil Finn.
Buckingham subsequently told People his firing had been “all Stevie’s doing” in 2018.
“Stevie basically gave the band an ultimatum that either I had to go or she would go,” Buckingham recalled.
“It would be like [Mick] Jagger saying, “Well, either Keith [Richards] has to go or I’m going to go’… But that could be seen as something almost predictable at some point given the fact that we were slightly on different planets for so long.”
As for whether Buckingham’s mended fences lead to a potential Fleetwood Mac reunion, Nicks has previously insisted the band could never go on without the late Christine McVie.
“I think right now, I truly think the line in the sand has been drawn with the loss of Chris,” Nicks told the Los Angeles Times. “I’d say we’re done, but then we’ve all said that before. It’s sort of unthinkable right now.”
