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Pattie Boyd and George Harrison were one of the biggest couples of the glamorous Swinging Sixties, until their complicated love life got in the way of their marriage. The Beatles guitarist was a living rock ‘n’ roll legend who lived a lifestyle that belied the status, and the model was getting tired of it. In the background was Eric Clapton, the fiery guitar god who became good friends with Harrison and fell in love with his wife in the late 1960s. the most scandalous love triangles in music history.
Clapton initially tried to suppress his affection for her, even going so far as to date Boyd’s sister to channel his feelings elsewhere. But by the early 1970s, the guitarist began making his feelings known by sending her love letters questioning her love for Harrison. Clapton was ruthless. Still, Boyd resisted his advances. But when Clapton released the hit ‘Layla’ in 1973, Boyd was moved. “The song took over, with the realization that I had inspired so much passion and creativity. I couldn’t resist it any longer,” she says. wrote in her 2007 memoir, “Great tonight.”
By this time, Harrison’s infidelity was starting to get to Boyd. When her husband was one of the messiest celebrity cases of the 70s By becoming involved with Ringo Starr’s wife, Maureen Starkey, in 1974, Boyd decided she had had enough. The two parted ways and Boyd got together with Clapton. However, despite the years of pursuit, the relationship between Boyd and Clapton was not meant to last.
George Harrison remained friends with Eric Clapton despite Pattie Boyd’s marriage
Pattie Boyd’s relationship with Eric Clapton began when she was still officially married to George Harrison. This being the rock ‘n’ roll reality of the ’70s, all parties involved, including Ringo Starr and Maureen Starkey, still hung out and visited each other’s homes. During one of Harrison and Clapton’s guitar sessions, when the latter was already with Boyd, the Beatle star reportedly said, “I suppose I’d better divorce her,” according to author Philip Norman in his biography “George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle” (via Fox News). Clapton replied, “If you do that, I guess that means I have to marry her.”
Boyd divorced in 1977 and married Clapton in 1979, ten years after his crush on her began. Clapton and Harrison remained friends, with the latter calling the former his husband after the wedding. On the other hand, Clapton’s burning passion for Boyd must have burned itself out. Clapton soon became unfaithful to Boyd and even fathered children with two separate women during their marriage in 1985 and 1986.
When he got the second wife pregnant, Clapton told Boyd about it. At the time, she was in the midst of struggling with infertility and undergoing IVF. “It was terrible. It was a stab in the heart, terrible,” she said Starts at 60 in 2018. He wanted to fix things, but Boyd knew it was the beginning of the end. His infidelity and growing problems with alcohol addiction became too much to bear. Clapton and Boyd eventually divorced in 1989.
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