Ringo Starr Thought He Had a Good Childhood Until He Talked to a Therapist

Like the rest of The Beatles, Ringo Starr spent his childhood in Liverpool. Unlike the rest of them, however, he spent much of his time in and out of hospitals. His father left his family when he was young, and Starr rarely saw him afterward. Still, he looked back on his childhood fondly. After speaking with a therapist, however, he took a different perspective.

The Beatles drummer has three children

In 1965, Starr married his first wife, Maureen Starkey, in 1965. That same year, the couple welcomed their first child, a boy named Zak. Like his father, Zak became a drummer. In 1967, Starkey gave birth to a second son, Jason. Jason was also a drummer and later worked in the music industry. They welcomed their final child, a daughter named Lee, in 1970. She began working in the fashion industry.

Starr and Starkey divorced in 1975, after she had an affair with his Beatles bandmate, George Harrison. He married Barbara Bach in 1981, though the couple did not have children.

Ringo Starr thought he had a good childhood until he spoke to a therapist

Starr’s parents divorced when he was a toddler, and Starr rarely saw his father after the split. He said that he had few memories of the man. 

Starr had an appendectomy when he was six years old. Afterward, he contracted peritonitis and fell into a coma. His recovery left him in the hospital for nearly a year. Consequently, he fell behind in school, but he worked hard to catch up. 

In 1953, when Starr was 13, he contracted tuberculosis and had to stay in a sanatorium for two years. Despite all this, he looked back on his childhood fondly.

“I always thought I had a great childhood,” he told Rolling Stone in 2015. “Then a therapist told me, ‘Well, actually, it sounds like you were abandoned and lived in a slum.’”

Paul McCartney said Ringo Starr had the most challenging childhood of all the Beatles

When reflecting on his former bandmate’s life, Paul McCartney said that Starr had the most difficult upbringing of all the Beatles. All of them had experienced hardship, but he believed that Starr had it the worst. As a result, Starr learned to build a shield around himself.

“I don’t want to bring in the violins, but we all came from hardship,” Paul McCartney said. “All of us except for George lost someone. I lost my mum when I was 14. John lost his mum. But Ringo had it worst. His father was gone; he was so sick they told his mum he wasn’t going to live. Imagine making up your life from that, in that environment. No family, no school. He had to invent himself. We all had to come up with a shield, but Ringo came up with the strongest shield.”