George Harrison Sent His Ex-Wife a Big Check After an Embarrassing Shopping Trip
George Harrison and his ex-wife Pattie Boyd maintained a cordial relationship after their divorce. The end of their marriage was acrimonious, but they formed a friendship in the years after. Boyd knew that she could turn to him whenever she needed to. While Christmas shopping one year, Boyd called Harrison in embarrassment. He responded by sending her a check.
George Harrison and his ex-wife divorced in 1977
After eight years of marriage, Harrison informed Boyd that he wanted a divorce. Their relationship had been under duress for a while, and both were conducting affairs.
Boyd arrived at a New Year’s party late. Once she got there, Harrison said he wanted to end their marriage.
“When I finally arrived George said, ‘Let’s have a divorce this year,'” she wrote in the book Wonderful Tonight. “On our wedding anniversary, January 21, 1974, I wrote in my diary: ‘Wedding anniversary. Joke!'”
After their divorce, Harrison married Olivia Arias in 1978, and Boyd married Eric Clapton in 1979.
George Harrison sent his ex-wife a check after an embarrassing moment at the store
When Boyd began a relationship with Clapton, she didn’t have much money. Clapton’s manager Roger Forrester controlled his finances, and he didn’t give much to Boyd.
“His job was to keep Eric happy, but that didn’t extend to me,” Boyd wrote. “His loyalty was to Eric. I had little money of my own. I didn’t feel I had the right to ask George for any, and Eric was adamant that I shouldn’t take it even if it was offered. He wanted to provide for me and keep me in the manner to which I had become accustomed, but that didn’t translate to my bank account.”
She explained that one winter, she went to pay for Christmas presents as she always had: with the department store account she had shared with Harrison.
“The first Christmas after I left him I went to Harrods, as usual, picked out lots of presents for my family and friends, then went to pay and discovered that the account had been closed. And I didn’t have enough money in my bank to pay for it all.”
Humiliated, Boyd called Harrison.
“I rang George, told him what had happened and how embarrassed I had been, and he sent me a check for five thousand pounds.”
Eric Clapton didn’t want her to keep the money
Clapton wasn’t happy when he learned that Boyd had taken money from her ex-husband.
“Eric told me to tear it up — an instruction I ignored,” she explained. “It was a matter of pride to him — and I guess he must have felt a bit guilty for having taken me from George, who had always been such a good friend. He always said that George put up no fight, and he was right. With hindsight I think George might have behaved because it was his friend, someone he respected and loved, who was in love with his wife.”
Ultimately, Boyd’s lawyers persuaded her to take a settlement from Harrison when they finalized their divorce in 1977.
