London, Aug 10 - Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills says she can relate to Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King because like them she too had to face persecution in order to tell the truth.

The former model identifies with India's Father of the Nation, as well as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, because of the persecution they have all endured in their bid to tell the truth, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

'They were people who went through controversy to put the truth forward and they weren't afraid to fight and I can relate to that completely,' she said.

The 41-year-old charity campaigner who secured a 24.3 million pounds pay out when she legally separated from McCartney last year also claims her popularity has soared in recent months.

The mother-of-one regularly blogs on social networking site Twitter and insists she's only had one negative response to her updates.

During her bitter divorce with the Beatle legend, Mills became a hate-figure for people around the world, who claimed she was a 'gold-digger' only after the musician's money.