PattyBoyd was born on March 17, 1944, and began her modeling career as a teenager – in 1962. Many photographers rejected her due to her unusual appearance, but she had a chance to pose, among others: for photos David Bailey Whether Terence Donovan. Twiggya style icon of the 1960s in Great Britain, said years later that she based her image on the appearance of Pattie Boyd.
Her modeling work led her to her first film role. She was then in a relationship with Eric Swayneand she played the role of a Beatles-crazy fan in the film “A Hard Day’s Night” (1964). Apparently she immediately caught the eye of George Harrison, who asked her on a date. The girl rejected him without a second thought. “He was so handsome and sweet, he talked to us. All the Beatles were wearing dark suits and little black ties,” she recalled of her first meeting with her future husband. And she added that despite everything, it was difficult not to fall under his charm: “Yes, (George) was wonderful and sexy, very stylish.”
“Will you marry me?” – were supposed to be one of the first words uttered by the Silent Beatle to his future wife. She responded with laughter, and then Harrison suggested they have dinner together. She didn’t agree at the time, but a few days later she broke up with her boyfriend to meet George. They went on their first date accompanied by a chaperone – Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, who showed them how adults could date. “He was great company and knew everything there was to know about wine, food and restaurants,” Boyd recalled in the book “Wonderful Today”.
She quickly became the muse of George Harrison, who was discovering his lyric skills – he wrote songs for her at that time. “I Need You”, “If I Needed Someone” and “Love You To”. They married on January 21, 1966. Paul McCartney was the best man, and Brian Epstein also appeared at the ceremony, but the other Beatles did not come so as not to focus too much media attention on the event. The couple spent their honeymoon in Barbados.
Despite being very close to George, she was not involved with The Beatles. In “Anthology”, Ringo Starr recalled that she accompanied Harrison to the studio “only a few times”. Nevertheless, it can be heard in the choruses of several compositions – “Birthday” and “Yellow Submarine”. In 1969, Harrison created his magnum opus, “Something”, which was entirely about his feelings for Pattie Boyd. “He told me that he actually wrote it for me. I thought it was beautiful and it turned out to be his most popular song ever written, over 150 artists recorded their own versions of it,” Boyd said.
Their problems began when George went to India in 1968 to search for meaning. His wife thought he was “obsessed with meditation” and her relationship was becoming increasingly difficult. There were also betrayals – what hurt her the most was when George Harrison cheated on her with Maureen Starkey, wife of Ringo Starr. “She was the last person I would have expected to stab me in the back,” she recalled. When she asked George what Starkey was doing at their Friar Park residence, he laughed: “He opened the door and said, ‘Oh, she’s a little tired, so she’s lying down.'”
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This was the beginning of the end of their marriage, because while Harrison was unfaithful, he became close to Pattie Ronnie Wood (The Faces and later The Rolling Stones)and then Harrison’s friend, Eric Clapton. “I was aware that Eric found me attractive and I enjoyed the attention he was giving me. It was hard not to notice when I caught him staring at me or when he decided to sit next to me. He complimented me on what I was wearing, the food that I cooked, and he said things that made me laugh. These were all things George didn’t do anymore,” she recalled in her autobiography, Wonderful Today.
It was then, in 1970, that the legendary song was created “Layla”. It was the first of several compositions Clapton created for her. At that time, she still rejected his advances, and he became addicted to heroin and became a hermit for three years. The song was inspired by a poem “Laila and Majnun”which presented the author as a man driven to the brink of madness by his unattainable, impossible love.
During one of the industry events organized by Robert Stigwood George eventually caught Pattie and Eric in the garden. Clapton turned to his friend and said one of the hardest things he’s ever had to say: “Dude, I have to tell you, I love your wife.” Pattie and George divorced in 1974, and she became involved with Eric. This love triangle eventually ended, but Eric and George remained close friends for the rest of their lives. He also had a warm relationship with Pattie.
George Harrison died on November 25, 2001. “I burst into tears when I found out he had passed away. I felt like an orphan. I couldn’t bear the thought of a world without George. When I left him for Erik, he told me that if something went wrong, I could always count on him. “It was so selfless and so loving,” Boyd recalled.
In 1976, Pattie Boyd became the inspiration for Clapton’s next big hit – “Wonderful Tonight”which was created on the September evening of the annual event organized by Paul and Linda McCartney. The impatient guitarist was waiting for his wife getting ready to leave and then he came up with the famous riff and lyrics of the song.
On March 27, 1979, Clapton and Boyd got married after six years of dating. They were together for another eight years, and Pattie finally left him in April 1987. The couple divorced two years later. Eric Clapton allegedly cheated on her – among others. with an Italian model Lora Del Santo. Besides, he had become an alcoholic, and Boyd couldn’t stand living like that. Ultimately, the reason given for the breakdown of the marriage was “infidelity and unreasonable behavior.”
In 1989 on the album “Journeyman” One of Clapton’s best compositions was released and… again written for and about Pattie. While working on the album (he was helped by George Harrison), he wrote a letter to Pattie that he was writing a new song about her. He immediately assumed that it would be the best on the entire album. “It’s called ‘Old Love’ and don’t be offended, it’s not about you being old; it’s about love getting old, and (the song) is great. Well, you’ll see it when you hear it,” the message was said to have read.
In a 2008 interview, Pattie did not share her enthusiasm for the track when speaking to The Guardian. “The end of a relationship is sad enough for Eric to still write about it. It makes me even sadder because I don’t think I can respond to it.” Pattie Boyd suspected years later that Clapton’s madness towards her resulted from his desire to compete with Harrison. In her opinion, he wanted to “have what George had.”
Boyd has been married since 2015 Rod Weston – a developer she met while on vacation in Sri Lanka.
After many years, Pattie Boyd decided to leave her old life behind for good. She recently announced that she is selling all her Harrison and Clapton love memorabilia. She explained that they had been a pleasant memory for decades, but eventually they began to weigh on her. “I thought, do I really need them? Do I have to keep opening this Pandora’s box? I really liked them for many years, but now it’s time for others to see them,” she admitted.
They include extremely intimate letters from Eric Clapton, embarrassed by his own feelings for his friend’s wife. “Dearest L., I am writing you this letter to know your feelings on an issue that is well known to both of us. I want to ask you, do you still love your husband? I know that all these questions are very impertinent, but if there is still something in your heart If you have any feelings for me, you have to let me know,” he wrote to her as L. (Layla), and Boyd thought it was another message from a strange fan.
The value of the letters is estimated in thousands of pounds, and this particular one between 10 and 15 thousand pounds. pounds.
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