Many iconic couples emerged from the classic rock period, like Paul and Linda McCartney or John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull. While some endured longer than others – and some were more loyal than others – these musicians proved that there was love in a murky world where sex, drugs and groupies reigned.
One of the most unforgettable rock romance stories revolves around Pattie Boyd and two of music’s most prominent names, George Harrison and Eric Clapton. While the situation wasn’t a love triangle per se, many people see it as a tale of betrayal and heartbreak, although each party will give you different views on the matter.
It all started when Boyd appeared as an extra in The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night, where she was introduced to Harrison. When they met, Boyd was already in a relationship, so she turned down his advances. Yet, she ultimately left her boyfriend and pursued Harrison, with the pair instantly hitting it off. It was 1964, and the pair were barely out of their teenage years, but it wasn’t long before they were living together in a house in Surrey.
On Christmas Day the following year, Harrison proposed to Boyd, and they were married less than a month later. It didn’t take long for the couple to become an iconic ‘60s pairing, known for their effortlessly stylish outfits, which seemed to complement each other well. In the end, Harrison’s devotion to spirituality and the couple’s string of infidelities led to their divorce in 1974.
Soon after, she started dating Eric Clapton, one of Harrison’s good friends who had been in love with Boyd since he first met her several years prior. He’d even written his hit 1970 song ‘Layla’ about her as a declaration of his infatuation – one of many songs that Boyd inspired, including The Beatles’ ‘Something’. Clapton’s feelings for Boyd were overwhelmingly strong, so much so that he dated her sister for a short while. Alas, that was not what he truly wanted – he’d have to wait several more years until he could finally be with Boyd.
They married in 1979, but his addiction issues eventually became too much to handle, and they divorced ten years later. During their relationship, however, Harrison and Clapton somehow remained friends. In an interview with Paul Cashmere, Harrison revealed how little he was bothered by the set-up, which he believed “annoyed” Clapton. He began by asserting that Clapton “didn’t really run off with her, because we’d kind of finished with each other basically anyway.”
He explained, “And, you know, for me, this is what I think is the main problem, not the fact that he got married to Pattie. I think the fact that makes the problem is that I didn’t get annoyed at him, and I think that has always annoyed him.”
For Harrison, seeing Boyd happy was pleasing – he didn’t want a big legal fallout with “all these big rows and divorces.” He continued, “I think that deep down inside, he wishes that it really pissed me off, but it didn’t, because I was happy that she went off, because we’d finished together, and it made things easier for me.”