George Harrison Said It Was Just a ‘Dirty Rumor’ He Attracted Girls by Being the ‘Quiet’ Beatle
During the early 1960s, The Beatles were in full bloom, and the media and audiences gave each Beatle a personality based on what they gave out to the world. Many people thought of George Harrison as the quiet Beatle, a quality which some believed helped him land all the ladies. However, Harrison dispelled the speculation, saying it was just a “dirty rumor” that he attracted girls by being quiet.
George Harrison denied attracting girls because he was quiet
With George Harrison named the quiet Beatle, John Lennon was dubbed the witty Beatle, while Paul McCartney’s good looks earned him the title of the cute Beatle. Ringo Starr was himself through and through and ended up without a nickname.
The press labeled Harrison “quiet” because, unlike his bandmates, he rarely talked in interviews leaving much of the talking to McCartney and Lennon. At the time, McCartney and Lennon received most of the media attention because of their chemistry onstage and on records. For his part, Harrison didn’t appear to care.
Some associated Harrison’s ability to attract women with his quiet demeanor. As with all rumors, this one grew wings, becoming a not-so-open secret. However, Harrison quickly shut down the speculation in an interview with Dick Cavett on his eponymous show. When Cavett asked the singer if the rumors were true that he landed girls by being quiet, Harrison denied it, saying, “It’s just a dirty rumor. It’s just a rumor.”
Harrison thinks Paul McCartney was more of the ladies’ man
Before Beatlemania became a worldwide phenomenon, Paul McCartney and John Lennon weren’t winning in the romantic department. McCartney went on the Fresh Air podcast and narrated his pre-Beatles life telling host Terry Gross, “As kids we were apparently not very attractive. It was kind of the opposite for us.”
However, when they became stars, they found themselves with several options, and the swooning of young ladies gave McCartney some comfort.
In the Cavett interview, George Harrison, while shutting down all rumors of him being the ladies’ man, shifted the attention to Paul, saying, “I think Paul used to get them all over.” In a CBS interview, one of The Beatles, Starr, confirmed this. When asked who got all the ladies, he said, “Well, Paul, actually. Paul the most because he was just so darn cute.”
McCartney ended up settling down after meeting the Wings keyboardist Linda Eastman in 1966. The two became properly acquainted the following year and began dating soon after. Eastman and McCartney tied the knot in March 1969 and remained married until Eastman died in 1998 at age 56 from cancer.
A few years later, he married former model Heather Mills, but their marriage ended acrimoniously, divorcing in 2008. In 2011, McCartney married Nancy Shevell, about 18 years his junior. McCartney and Shevell have been together since.
George Harrison liked French girls for one reason
Due to their fame, The Beatles met several of their fans, many of whom were women, but George Harrison seemed to prefer the ones from the City of Light for one thing. Harrison detailed his love for Parisian girls in his Daily Express column in 1964 (as written in the Ashley Kahn book George Harrison on George Harrison, reviewed by The Washington Post).
“If you look at a French girl, she looks straight back and smiles. It simply means, ‘Thank You,” he wrote. Nonetheless, Harrison married English model Pattie Boyd in 1966, divorcing a decade later. He and American author Olivia Arias married in 1978 and were together until Harrison died in 2001.
