Pattie Boyd BREAKS Her SILENCE on Marriages to George Harrison and Eric Clapton | Wonderful Tonight

Patty boydd breaks her silence on her marriages to George Harrison and Eric Clapton in her autobiography wonderful tonight which reads like a cautionary tale a fairy tale that at times felt more like a nightmare she shares some delightful stories about the good days but as time goes on she describes some jaw-dropping moments that provide insights into the dark side of living the rock and roll life in the 60s and 70s I sat on the bed shaking tears streaming down my face I felt like a complete and utter fool this is how Patty describes a traumatic moment in her marriage to Eric Clapton as disturbing as some of these stories are there are also some important lessons to be learned and she shares what she wished she would have done differently and how she fought back to overcome her darkest times when Patty Boyd finally broke her 40-year silence on her life with two of rocks most legendary musicians it surprised many to learn of the depressing details of of being the Muse of Legends George Harrison and Eric Clapton While their songs are some of the most loved music of all time and their contributions as musicians are incredible it is worth noting that regardless of talent Fame and excess can lead to some ugly Behavior as we will learn when Patty mares George on January 21st 1966 they have a wonderful beginning to their marriage George is very thoughtful calling and writing to her often when he is away on tour Patty describes some of the fun and hair raising vacations and exclusive parties they attend she is well aware of how privileged she is and enjoys every moment of this exciting time to be a young model married to a beetle in 1960s swinging London but she also acknowledges that she knows there are other women [Music] she describes the change in George and life with him after he gets so deeply into meditation during their trip to India in 1968 he becomes so obsessed with the god Krishna who was surrounded by Young maidens that George himself wants to be a spiritual figure who is also surrounded by Young concubines with no woman out of bounds he tells his shocked wife she speaks of George becoming very intense and retreating to himself and chanting all the time he becomes withdrawn and angry if she tries to speak to him when he is chanting which is most of the time she herself becomes depressed on January 1st 1969 after celebrating New Year's Eve at a party they arrive home and find Eric Clapton's girlfriend a French girl they know at their house after Eric kicked her out the girl is not upset about the breakup and becomes very close to George Patty knows something is going on and begins to question him and he tells her she is being paranoid upset she leaves to stay with friends a full six days later George calls her and tells her the girl is gone so she goes home Patty describes the Betrayal I felt unloved and miserable around the same time Jane Asher Paul's longtime living girlfriend comes home early from New York unannounced to find Paul at home with another woman but unlike Patty Jane goes and gets her mother and they show up and move all her stuff out leaving Paul alone George also begins to wear Sandalwood to attract women as Patty describes he has never worn cologne or anything before he begins to stay at the Apple offices late into the night where pretty women are always around he sometimes never comes home whenever she asks George about it he denies anything is going on and accuses her of being unreasonable nasty and suspicious as she describes her feeling of helplessness at this point Patty begins to do more modeling gigs to keep busy and even takes art classes with a friend as George closes her out she gets a five-page spread with Twiggy in Italian Vogue which is very proud of she also begins taking pictures with a new camera that George had given her for Christmas Patty and her sister Jenny who married Mick Fleetwood begin buying and selling iques on King's Road specializing in art Nuvo the stall they rent out they named Juniper after Donovan's song Jennifer Juniper which he wrote for her sister Jenny on their trip to India another musician starts showing up at their house quite a bit George's friend Eric Clapton she describes him as sexy on stage but when she meets him in person he is shy and reticent at that time he has a girlfriend French model Charlotte who eventually becomes Jimmy Page's girlfriend and mother to his first child Patty admits to feeling flattered when she catches Clapton staring at her or trying to sit next to her or compliment her cooking since George no longer does any of these things she enjoys the Newfound attention soon after Eric starts hanging out with George and Patty Eric meets her much younger sister Paula Who falls in love and moves in with him after George and Patty move into frier park she gets an Express letter with urgent written on the bottom addressed to Patty Harry she opens it to find a small paper written in all lowercase dearest L as you probably gathered my own home Affairs are a galloping F which is rapidly degenerating Day by intolerable day it seems like an eternity since I last saw or spoke to you he was trying to find out if she still had feelings for her husband or him she thought it was from a weirdo fan as he signed it all my love e She even shows it to George and their friends who are over at the time later that evening Eric calls to ask if she got the letter and to make his feelings known in her mind he was just flirting she didn't realize he had truly fallen for her they begin hanging out as friends in the beginning one day on an outing he buys her a pair of bellbottom jeans several years later the song Bell Bottom Blues is released there were several people living at Eric's house so on one of their secret hangout days Eric took Patty to a friend's flat in London to play her a song he had written that day he played her Leila the song he had written about his unrequited love for her she describes it as the most powerful moving song she has ever heard he plays it several times watching her face for a reaction she is worried because she thinks everyone will know it is about her the song got the better of her and she could resist him no longer that night she went to a party where Eric showed up and they were in the garden talking when George appears asking where she is he finds them together and asks what's going on Eric responds I have to tell you man I'm in love with your wife Patty is horrified and leaves with George Eric begins showing up at their house when George is away and asking her to run away with him at one point he threatens to take heroin if she doesn't leave George for him eventually he does just that and slips into a drug stuper for several years during this period he goes to Miami to record Lila and plays it for her sister Paula who knows immediately it is about Patty heartbroken she packs her bags and moves out of his house in 1973 George and Patty have plans to go on vacation to Portugal together but the day before he tells her he isn't feeling well and to cancel the trip so instead she goes to the Bahamas with her friend and two siblings when she left George secretly leaves for Spain with Ronnie Wood's wife Chrissy wood and wants to see Salvador Dary yet another friend caught sleeping with George when she confronts him about it he tells her she is being paranoid Ronnie apparently didn't think it was a big deal that his wife was off with George but quite funny that they would go to see Salvador Daly Ronnie becomes a lifelong friend of Patty's the last straw comes when Patty discovers George's affair with Ringo's wife Moren who Patty has been close friends with throughout the Beatles years she finds photos of them after returning from visiting her mother one weekend Moren had been staying in their home and had been wearing a necklace George had given her one night she finds them locked in a bedroom together and starts banging on the door while George laughs when he finally comes out he says Moren is tired and is laying down Patty heads to the top of the house and lowers George's om flag and raises a crossbones flag to replace it which makes her feel better for a moment Moren starts showing up at midnight and when Patty confronts her she says I've come to Listen to George play in the studio the next morning she is still there Patty asks her where her children and tells her she didn't like what she was doing Moren says tough so Patty calls up Ringo and asks him if he knows where his wife is and why she hasn't been coming home at night Ringo flies into a rage during this period Eric continues to pursue Patty feeling unloved and betrayed by George who continues to deny any Affairs telling Patty she is paranoid and crazy George becomes impossible to talk to Patty feels George wants to end things and get rid of her then on New Year's Eve 1974 they were headed out to a party with one of George's friends when she forgot something and ran back inside when she came back out they were gone and left her behind so she jumps in her car to drive to the party herself getting stuck in Fog she spent New Year's Eve on the road with strangers hugging one another she finally makes it to the party and George says let's have a divorce this year Ringo step in to cheer her up and offers Patty a job taking still shots of him in a musical comedy he is playing in as Merlin the magician for Harry Nelson in Son of Dracula one day at Ringo's house in front of a group of friends at a dinner party George tells Ringo he is in love with his wife Ringo loses it and keeps saying nothing is real nothing is real Patty leaves and dyes her hair red but does not leave George despite the humiliation one day Patty arrives home to find George Eric and Pete Townsend locked in deep conversation Eric takes her aside and asks her to leave George for him once again several weeks later Patty finally announces to George that she is leaving him later that night he crawls into bed with her and asked her not to leave he is sad but it was too late in her mind Patty soon joins Eric on tour at first enjoying standing on the side of the stage watching the crowd come alive when he plays the opening Rift to Lea it starts off like a fairy tale she soon realizes how grueling a coast to coast tour is living out of suitcases in hotels and airports getting to bed late at night and then back at it the next day Eric copes by drinking and she joins in one night she walks into a hotel room to find him and another guy alone with strippers and he blames it on his friend when she goes berserk disappointing discoveries will become a regular occurrence she will become accustomed to when she returns back to frier park to collect her items from George she feels guilty as he is sweet to her and acts sad she begins to wonder if she made the right choice once with Eric for a while she begins to compare the two both grew up working class but George came from loving parents and a close family Eric had grown up believing his mother was his sister as she had him with a married Air Force man from Canada when she was just 16 and kept it a secret his grandmother posed as his mother for years until they eventually came clean leaving him very confused her family loved George and he was very good to them Eric was more rough around the edges and they never took to him George had good social skills and enjoyed social dinners Eric was more antisocial unless he was drinking Eric would get up after eating to watch TV or play guitar and leave everyone at the table still eating George was tidy and Eric left clothing and things laying around the floor on Christmas George came over unannounced and was startled to find Patty eating meat again as they had been strict vegetarians for years but they had a good time hanging out the three of them she sadly realized that George had been alone on Christmas which is why he stopped by at home with Eric they have a lot of parties and drinking one night while she is taking a long time to get ready for a party Eric is playing around on his guitar when she comes into the room he plays her the opening line of wonderful tonight for a while they are enjoying life and one another falling deeply in love but soon after Eric's drinking spirals out of control eventually leading him to alcohol withdraw seizures once on the road again Eric decides that wives or girlfriends are banned so Patty stays home alone which becomes her normal life with Eric she befriends a couple of other models who are twins when Eric is home from touring one of them spends the night and the next morning when Patty wakes up her model friend and Eric are gone shopping Patty leaves as well to go out and when she returns she finds them cozied up on the couch together when she asks what's going on a drunk Eric responds can't you see we are having a really intense and intimate conversation here she asks asks why he responds because I am in love with this girl go away and leave us alone just F off in shock and not knowing what to say she is immediately taken back to the time with the French girl and George after the New Year's Eve party she goes upstairs in shock I sat on the bed shaking tears streaming down my face I felt like a complete and utter fool I gave up George for this she leaves and goes to her sister Jenny who has also left Mick Fleetwood and moved back to England with her daughters all I could think was thank God I have Jenny a couple of days later she phones Eric to tell him she is going away for a while and he says good they need a break he admits her friend is still there Patty heads to another friend's home for several weeks in Los Angeles determined to not go back to Eric when she returns and figuring out what to do with her life the friend comes in one morning and tells her Eric called in the middle of the night and wants to marry her right away on Tuesday the day before his next tour begins in Tucson she reluctantly agrees they have the last minute wedding with just three days to prepare and her sister and some friends attend in a rush she later finds out that the whole thing came about after a friend bet Eric that he could get his photo in the paper the next day so the friend called the newspapers and told them about a fake wedding which is why they rushed for an answer since it was already already in all the papers in England before she knew about it while in Los Angeles she goes on tour with him after the wedding and they are happy until less than one week later he tells her to pack her bags and go home she finds out that her model friend he was having the affair with was back and had checked into the hotel they were staying in the crew ran the woman off but less than one week after the wedding everything changed the woman shows up several times throughout their marriage a dark reminder every time of the Betrayal yet she stays in the marriage Eric and Patty plan a big wedding reception at their home and they have all their musician friends attend including all the Beatles except for John lenon who said he would have attended if he knew about it this is often considered the closest The Beatles ever came to a reunion Eric lifts the ban on wives and girlfriends being on tour again but Patty does not go to Milan on one of the tours then one one night after the tour ends Eric invites Patty to dinner she thinking it is a romantic gesture is taken aback when in a crowded restaurant he tells her he needs to tell her something important he met another woman in Milan on tour he thinks he is in love with her too her name is lorri Del Santo Patty is crushed as they had been doing IVF treatments to get pregnant all she wants is a family at this point so she goes on pretending it isn't happening while while still playing the doting wife then shortly after around Christmas time Eric tells her that lorri is pregnant another crushing blow he goes on about how beautiful Lori is and what great photos she takes knowing that Patty is also a budding photographer expecting her to be happy for him she calls it the final nail in the coffin of their marriage yet still stays with him for the time being she leaves and goes to her friend's house house in the south of France around the time the baby is due Eric calls her to tell her he is the father of a son they named Connor he again expects her to be happy for him despite her being unable to conceive her friend at the house she is staying at is also pregnant and Patty begins to think she may never have a child of her own while all her friends are pregnant or already have children she explains I was 42 and my marriage was on its last legs so I had to face the unpalatable fact that I might never have a child for the first time I let go and cried uncontrollably shortly after Bill Wyman who lives nearby shows up at the house worried as his house is surrounded by Paparazzi and he might be wanted by police as a story has broken that he is in a relationship with a girl he met when she was just 14 so Bill stays there with them for 10 days making light of the mess they are in and keeping them in history hysterics every night with his stories while his house is under siege this break cheers her up and she returns feeling stronger keeping busy until Eric starts drinking again he also has the idea that she can help him raise the child she initially agrees as she continues more IVF treatments desperate for a child of her own Eric starts visiting Milan monthly to see Connor but as they never do conceive Patty finally reaches Rock Bottom as Eric Carri on about his son with the other woman she finally can no longer take the Heartbreak and announces she is divorcing him on one morning on her 43rd birthday during the divorce while sleeping in separate bedrooms Eric bursts into her room in a rage screaming at her for being a bad wife refusing to sleep with him and throws her things out the window terrified she fle leaving everything behind she stays with friends until she's able to move into a small apartment of her own calling Eric's hand handlers for money to get a place until they find her one she describes having no confidence feeling lost and confused crying at the slightest little thing with no career and no money she needs to find a job and start getting an income she starts calling old friends looking for work but no one has anything to offer the antidote to her suffering is to keep busy and find work she attempts several courses and eventually settles back to photography she starts taking classes attending lectures and joins the Royal photographic Society she starts getting work from magazines Patty eventually settles into a relationship with an old friend Rod who she describes as different from both George and Eric he has the same background and education as her for the first time in her life she has to live independently and learn to do everyday things she never learned to do she also has to recreate herself as she is no longer a model or a musician's wife Patty fights through the difficulties by staying close to family and friends she even forgives her ex-husbands and stays friendly with them Eric takes her out to lunch from time to time and asks her to meet Connor one day Eric calls her with devastating news about Connor's death and she worries for his well-being that this might drive him to return to drinking or drugs Eric eventually comes clean with her that he also has a daughter from another woman during their marriage so what would she have done differently when reflecting on Jane Asher's response to finding Paul with another woman and immediately moving out she thinks she had done the same she would have stood up for herself and demand George make the other women leave their home immediately she would have not allowed herself to be treated with disrespect but Patty would not have left George for Eric she would have fought for her marriage she reflects on her low self-confidence and with each and every infidelity and drunken rage how it diminished her self-worth she also reflects on her parents abandoning her as a child leaving her to be raised in Kenya at a boarding school she sees the pattern of Abandonment and cheating that she was familiar with as a child Patty describes herself as happier than ever through self- knowledge she has learned self-acceptance she continues her photography and goes onto exhibitions throughout the world and is happily married I

Channel: Freewheeling

Views: 468,833

Keywords: georgeharrison, ericclapton, beatles, 1970s, songwriting, interviews, music, 60s, marriage, ringo, layla, pattieboyd, pattie boyd, wonderful tonight, guitar

Id: VFYBHklUKMc

Length: 22min 40sec (1360 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 22 2024