Sir Paul McCartney and his pregnant North-East wife Heather Mills know the sex of their baby and have chosen a name but it is staying a closely-guarded secret, the anti-landmines campaigner said today.

Mrs Mills-McCartney, speaking on a US chat show, said she did not want to keep calling her bump ''it'' but the world would have to wait and see whether it was a girl or boy.

And the couple, who wed in 2002, are yet to decide whether a picture of their first child together is released. The baby is due on November 14. During her hour-long appearance on CNN's Larry King show Mrs Mills-McCartney, who is from Washington, Tyne and Wear, also backed up her husband's series of events surrounding an alleged scuffle at the David Blaine stunt last week.

Sir Paul was said to have been involved in a fracas with a photographer during a night out with friends.

Mrs Mills-McCartney, 35, said her husband was out with friends who went to see Blaine, the magician attempting to survive without food in a glass box suspended over the Thames for 44 days.

''They stood miles away and his press guy stupidly told the press that he was over there. And he (Sir Paul) saw the press coming towards him,'' she said.

''So he ran off to the car and the paparazzi were chasing after him. The last thing he wanted on his night out was to have the press around. ''He just said, 'No I don't have anything to say', so the next day it was all 'punch up, drama'.

''His people tried to stop the paparazzi but Paul just got into his car and went.''

She also blamed the media, or ''stalker-azzi'' for the break-up of Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.

Former swimwear model Mrs Mills-McCartney, who lost a leg in a collision with a police motorcycle in 1993, described the tearful moment when she told Sir Paul she was pregnant.

She thought that after two ectopic pregnancies, it would be impossible for her to conceive.

She said she did not want to keep calling the baby ''it''. But she kept Larry King guessing, calling the baby a ''he'' in one breath and then ''she'' in another.

She said: ''It's our one little secret. We both know and we know the name and everything, but we ain't going to tell you Larry.''

She again denied rumours of a rift with Sir Paul's fashion designer daughter Stella, saying all of his children were happy that they were expecting a child.

''She's lovely, very nice, very clever, a great designer,'' she said.

Stella's wedding in Scotland was ''amazing'', ''a perfect, perfect weekend''.

And Mrs Mills-McCartney described Sir Paul's first wife, Linda who died of cancer in 1998, as being good for Sir Paul.

''I think all women mould men and she helped make him into a wonderful guy,'' she said.

Sir Paul and his wife are in the States as part of a charity drive for their Adopt A Minefield charity.