Fleetwood Mac Star Christine McVie Said Her Ex-Boyfriend, The Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson, Was ‘a Bit Barking Mad’
Christine McVie once dated The Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, and she has since described her ex-boyfriend as “a bit barking mad.” Here’s what the Fleetwood Mac star said about her relationship with Wilson.
Fleetwood Mac keyboardist Christine McVie and Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson had an intense relationship
Christine McVie was famously married to her Fleetwood Mac bandmate, John McVie. The two musicians were going through a divorce when the band created their most successful album, Rumours.
After divorcing John McVie, Christine went on to marry Eduardo Quintela in 1986. They were together for 17 years until divorcing in 2003.
But between her two marriages, McVie dated The Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. They were a couple from 1979 to 1982, and McVie wrote the Fleetwood Mac song “Only Over You” for Wilson.
“He was a mess, but he was charismatic, charming, and really handsome,” McVie described Wilson (per The Vintage News). “He swept me off my feet big time, and we had a very rollercoaster affair for a couple of years. I just adored him.”
She added that The Beach boys star “awakened things in me I’d been scared to experience and made me feel the extremes of every emotion.”
Christine McVie said her ex-boyfriend Dennis Wilson was ‘a bit barking mad’
In a June 2022 conversation with Rolling Stone, Christine McVie listed The Beach Boys among the musicians who moved her the most. Rather than naming her ex-boyfriend, Dennis Wilson, McVie said it was his brother, Carl, whose voice she loved the most.
“I related to them, and obviously to Dennis really well, although Dennis was a bit of a madman,” she said. “But we got on really well. I just really loved their music. Carl Wilson in particular – loved his voice.”
When asked what she learned from her time with Dennis, McVie answered, “Not really very much. I mean, he was an interesting guy, but he was a bit barking mad, honestly.”
Dennis Wilson’s friends claimed he was a womanizer
Christine McVie wasn’t the only one who thought Dennis Wilson was a bit over-the-top. “Whatever he did, he did in excess.” Chris Clark told Rolling Stone in 1984.
In the same interview, Wilson’s friends claimed The Beach Boys musician was a notorious womanizer and was never faithful in relationships. “He called himself ‘the wood,’” said one friend, gesturing to his crotch.
“Dennis was a sex fiend, plain and simple,” said Wilson’s personal manager, Robert Levine. “The man used to think more with his sex organs than with his brain.”
Wilson died at age 39 by drowning. He had been drinking all day before he went diving to try to recover some of his ex-wife’s belongings, which had been thrown overboard from his yacht amidst their divorce years prior.
