Stevie Nicks: What Finally Made Her Walk Away from Lindsey Buckingham

Few rock albums are as emotionally charged—or as steeped in real-life heartbreak—as Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. At the heart of the drama was the unraveling of the relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. The pair joined the band as a couple, but by the time Rumours was being recorded, their romance had reached a breaking point. Though the music flourished, the relationship did not. And as Nicks recalled decades later, the day it ended was unforgettable.

“It Just Wasn’t Good Anymore”

When Nicks and Buckingham first joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975, they were romantically involved. But behind the scenes, things were falling apart. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1997, Nicks revealed that the relationship had run its course long before the final straw.

“I don’t even remember what the issues were; I just know that it got to the point where I wanted to be by myself,” she said. “It just wasn’t good anymore, wasn’t fun anymore, wasn’t good for either of us anymore. I’m just the one who stopped it.”

During the early stages of Rumours’ recording in Sausalito, California, the couple was still spending time together, albeit tensely. Eventually, the emotional toll became too much to ignore.

“In Sausalito, up at the little condominium, Lindsey and I were still enough together that he would come up there and sleep every once in a while,” Nicks recalled. “And we had a terrible fight—I don’t remember what about, but I remember him walking out and me saying, ‘You take the car with all the stuff, and I’m flying back.’ That was the end of the first two months of the recording of Rumours.”

“We Were Absolutely Married”

Long before the tension, Nicks and Buckingham shared a deep bond built on shared ambition and mutual dependence. After relocating to Los Angeles in the early 1970s to pursue their music careers, they leaned heavily on each other for support.

“Our relationship was great,” Nicks said. “We had other problems: didn’t have a lot of money, alone in L.A., didn’t have our families, no friends, didn’t know anybody. But we had each other.”

From 1971 to 1975, they lived together—and by Nicks’ account, it felt like a marriage in every way but name.

“We were absolutely married. In every way [but for the ring]. I cooked, I cleaned, I worked. I took care of him.”

“A Necessary Thing to Go Through”

For Buckingham, the breakup wasn’t easy, but it became a turning point—both personally and professionally. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1977, he admitted that the split initially left him feeling lost.

“It was a little lonely there for a while,” he said. “The thought of being on my own really terrified me. But then I realized being alone is really a cleansing thing … As I began to feel myself becoming more myself again. I’m surprised we lasted as long as we did.”

In hindsight, Buckingham believed that breaking up was ultimately beneficial not just for him, but for the band as a whole. In Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac, he reflected on how the crumbling of the band’s romantic relationships—both his with Nicks and John and Christine McVie’s—may have actually preserved the group’s stability.

“If Stevie and I, and John and Chris had remained as couples, the stability of the band would not have been very good,” he said. “It was like that was a necessary thing to go through to eliminate all those weird vibes. And we respect each other a lot more now.”

Still, according to Nicks, the aftermath wasn’t entirely smooth.

“There were plenty of weird vibes,” she admitted.