In the 1980s, Fleetwood Mac employed an Australian bodyguard named Bob Jones. This would have been around the time the band was recording Mirage. Jones was an ambitious sort with some ideas about a harness that could be used in the water to assist in training known as the “swim-a-sizer.” He also was eager to write a book about self-defense that women could use to ward off attackers.

One day Stevie Nicks asked how his ancillary projects were going. As Jones tells it:
 

One day we were over at Stevie’s, and she’d asked how it was coming along. She was keen to understand the concept of how I intended to make it a train-at-home-alone manual.

“What can I do to help?”

“How about a photo shoot of you and me for the cover?”

Swear to God, I honestly meant this to be a throw-away line.

“It all sounds fabulous! I’d love to!”

“Great Stevie, I’ll ring your publicist to do a photo shoot here by the pool.”

 
And that was that. Nicks followed through on her promise to do a shoot for Jones’ book. The book came out in 1983 with the title Hands Off!, and there Nicks was, as promised, on the cover. Amazingly, Nicks showed up for the shoot wearing her trademark flowy gowns and the most incredible pair of platform boots, which prove her to be highly skilled in the martial arts indeed!
 

 
According to Jones, Nicks’ publicist professed to be astonished that Nicks had agreed to do the shoot, because she had recently bollixed up his negotiations with “one of the world’s top monthly magazines” (ahem, Playboy) by turning down an offer of $250,000 for a photo spread. I’m guessing it wasn’t the fact of doing a “photo shoot” that had caused Nicks to object. 
 

 
It all makes you want to tremble at the very thought of getting your ass kicked by Stevie Nicks in a dark alley, no? She’d probably use witchcraft on you too!

At some point Nicks and Jones appeared on the cover of Australasian Fighting Arts:
 

 
In the April 1986 issue of Black Belt there is a small item that references Nicks:
 

 
Here’s an incredible picture of Nicks executing some kind of backwards kick:
 

 

 
Sometime during the 1980s an Australian TV show got wind of the book and did a segment of comedy about it, complete with Stevie Nicks lookalike:

 
via Priscilla Page
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Stevie Nicks’ selfies from the 1970s