Episode 38: Pattie Boyd on falling for George Harrison and why "you can't grasp" the intensity of Beatles fame

Everything Fab Four

Pattie Boyd is an English model, photographer, and an eyewitness to key moments in rock ‘n’ roll history, particularly in terms of the lives and times of the former members of the Beatles, especially George Harrison. In 1962, Boyd began her modeling career, later appearing on the covers of Vogue and other leading magazines. In 1964, she met Harrison while working as an extra on the set of "A Hard Day’s Night." After moving in together at Harrison’s Kinfauns home in Esher, Boyd and Harrison married in January 1966.

Boyd was a regular fixture in the Beatles’ lives, attending the June 1967 Our World live simulcast and joining them in Rishikesh, India, for the group’s February 1968 visit to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram. In 1970, Boyd and Harrison relocated to Friar Park, the former Beatle’s enormous Victorian mansion in Henley-on-Thames. By 1973, the Harrisons’ relationship was disintegrating. In 1974, the couple separated, with Boyd later marrying Harrison’s longtime friend and collaborator Eric Clapton, who had nurtured a long-running passion for the model.

Over the years, Harrison had written numerous songs for Boyd, including the top-charting Beatles hit “Something.” In 1970, Boyd was the subject of the legendary Derek and the Dominos’ album "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs." The album’s title track describes Clapton’s unrequited love for Boyd. Clapton later composed the Top 20 U.S. hit “Wonderful Tonight” with Boyd as his inspiration.

In 2007, Boyd published her best-selling autobiography entitled "Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me." In 2022, she published her latest book, "Pattie Boyd: My Life in Pictures."

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