George Harrison Had No Problem With His Wife, Pattie Boyd, Dating Eric Clapton: ‘Eric Had the Problem’
George Harrison had no problem with his first wife, Pattie Boyd, leaving him for Eric Clapton. After everything that had gone on in his marriage, he was just glad Boyd had gone with Clapton and not someone he didn’t trust.
George Harrison and his love triangle with Pattie Boyd and Eric Clapton
On the set of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night, George and Boyd fell in love with each other at first sight. Shortly after, they began dating.
Being a Beatle’s girlfriend was challenging for Boyd. However, the couple made a life for themselves away from Beatlemania. In Here Comes The Sun: The Spiritual And Musical Journey Of George Harrison, Joshua M. Greene wrote that Boyd played an active part in George’s life. They did everything together “as though they were a single entity.”
In 1966, George had to ask The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, for permission to marry Boyd. After that, their movements were even more syncopated. They moved to the suburbs in Esher, and when George became interested in spirituality, Boyd came along with him on his journey.
By then, George had met Clapton a couple of times in passing. Eventually, they started getting hanging out more. In Martin Scorsese’s documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, Clapton said, “When I saw George and Pattie together, the way they fit into The Beatles thing of all of their domesticity it seemed to be like Camelot.”
Clapton saw himself as the Lancelot or the lone wolf with neither the successful band nor the doting, loving wife who did everything with him. Eventually, Clapton fell in love with Boyd. When George started leaving Boyd behind, dedicating most of his time to learning more about spirituality, it became harder for her to resist Clapton’s advances.
George had no problem with Boyd leaving him for Clapton
Eventually, Boyd started receiving love letters from Clapton addressed to “Layla.” Then, Clapton wrote “Layla” for her. They secretly met, and Clapton played her the song. Boyd knew everyone would know it was about her.
Later, George found Boyd and Clapton talking at a party and demanded what was happening. Clapton confessed he was in love with the model. According to Boyd, George was furious and asked his wife who she was going home with that night. However, according to Greene, George said, “It doesn’t worry me. You can have her and I’ll have your girlfriend.”
Boyd stayed with George, but she claims his infidelities continued. She went to Clapton for comfort. Eventually, Boyd left her husband, but it was a peaceful split. George realized that his wife had “as much right to determine a path for herself as he did,” Greene wrote.
If Boyd was going to leave him for anyone, who better than Clapton? The guitarists had become so close that looking at Clapton was “like looking at myself.”
According to Greene, seeing Boyd and Clapton together actually made George happy. “I’d rather she was with him than with some dope,” he said.
In 1977, George told Crawdaddy (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters) that he didn’t have a problem with the situation. It was Clapton who had the problem.
“I mean, you know, the thing with … is with Eric, over the years, and, you know, we both [George and Pattie Harrison] loved Eric—still do—and there were a few funny things. I pulled his chick once,” George said.
“That’s happened, and now you’d think he was trying to get his own back on me [laughing]. But much later, when all that thing was going on, when I split from Pattie, you know … Pattie and he got together after we’d really split and actually, we’d been splitting up for years.
“That was a funny thing, you know, I thought that was the best thing to do, for us to split, and we should’ve just done it much sooner. But I didn’t have any problem about it; Eric had the problem. Every time I’d go and see him and stuff, he’d be really hung up about it, and I was saying: ‘F*** it, man, don’t be apologizing,’ and he didn’t believe me. I was saying, ‘I don’t care.'”
Clapton was shocked that George was fine
According to Greene, Eric was amazed by how nonchalant George was with the entire situation. He willingly gave Boyd away and agreed to divorce her.
“He managed to laugh it all off when I thought it was getting pretty hairy,” Clapton later said. “I thought the whole situation was tense—he thought it was funny. He helped us all through the split-up.”
At Clapton and Boyd’s wedding, George introduced himself as the husband-in-law. Eventually, George found someone better suited to him, Olivia Arias.
