Inside Stevie Nicks' heartbreaking marriage – which she called a 'terrible mistake'

Although Stevie Nicks has had some high-profile romances, the star has only married once, to Kim Anderson, who was the husband of her childhood best friend, Robin .

Stevie and Kim's 1983 wedding came amid tragic circumstances , with it following the death of Robin, who died of leukaemia, three months after receiving her diagnosis. Robin was pregnant at the time, which only heightened the emotions and compelled Stevie to make the decision to become a surrogate mother when the baby, a boy named Matthew, was delivered prematurely.

© Ron Galella, Ltd.

Opening up about the sadness on the docu-series Behind the Music in 1998, Stevie explained: "My very best friend Robin called me and told me she had terminal leukaemia and that they thought that maybe she might last three months.

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"So, without a doubt, it was the absolute high and low of success. I never got to enjoy Bella Donna at all because my friend was dying; something went out that day, something left. She died, and they took the baby, and it was like he was three months premature, and it was horrible, it was such an upsetting situation. "

© Ron Galella

The Fleetwood Mac star continued: "Everyone was just so devastated, and there was this little premature baby, and I just went crazy. She had just been in my life since I was 14. She was the one person that knew me for the person I really was and not for the famous Stevie, and it was good to have someone who knew the real you besides just your mom and dad."

In 1990, the singer said the marriage was a "terrible mistake" and that she and Kim had gone "insane" with grief following the death of Robin, just two days after Matthew was born.

© Lorne Thomson

Speaking to Us magazine in 1990, Stevie shared: "And I was determined to take care of that baby, so I said to Kim, 'I don't know, I guess we should just get married.' And so we got married three months after she died, and it was a terrible, terrible mistake."

" We didn't get married because we were in love, we got married because we were grieving , and it was the only way that we could feel like we were doing anything. And we got divorced three months later."

© Rodrigo Vaz

The marriage had a terrible impact on both Stevie and Kim with the pair cutting off almost all communication , only exchanging a few gifts for Matthew in the wake of the split. "Kim and I can't deal with each other at all," she told the publication.

Stevie and Matthew did reconcile in his adult life, with the singer funding his college tuition at Atlanta, Georgia. Matthew has since started his own family, welcoming a daughter who he named after his late mother, and who calls Stevie "Grandma Stevie".