Pattie Boyd, a muse for two

This article is published in number 7 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until February 14, 2023

In a distant time, pattie Boyd he lived in a house called Kinfauns, a restored cottage in the countryside outside London: the outside had been decorated by an art collective with psychedelic designs, in the garden there was a swimming pool in the shape of a guitar. The high wall that protected the privacy of the inhabitants from the onlookers was soon filled with adoring writings, signatures, spontaneous graffiti. Inside, Pattie, queen of the house, fit right in. In love, happily married to George Harrison since 1966, he often received. There was a great coming and going of musicians, friends, girlfriends of friends. Come and go also of love, drugs and ideas that change the history of music.

Witness and protagonist of an era, only in recent years has Pattie told the truth about her love life. While married to George, she began an affair with one of her husband’s best friends, Eric Clapton, another guitarist. He was obsessed with her and her general attitude seemed to allow for multiple relationships. In fact, even George cheated on Pattie: with Maureen, wife of Ringo Starr, the drummer of the Beatles.

Pattie marries Eric in second marriage but other drugs, a lot of alcohol and too many betrayals ruin this marriage too. The couple tries to have children, fails and one day Eric tells Pattie that he is expecting a child from another woman, an Italian, is Lory Del Santo. The child will die in New York just four years of life, fallen from a window left open.

Even today Pattie Boyd, 78, lives in a country house not far from London. She is married to a real estate gentleman. Two alpacas, a dog and a black swan wander around the estate. She doesn’t like the swan: «I can’t wait for it to go away, I hate it, as soon as I get close it attacks me», says Pattie. Today it is difficult to recognize this lady in a pale yellow sweater and a pink scarf around her neck as the muse of very famous and poignant songs (Something by George Harrison, Layla And Wonderful Tonight by Clapton). Only when she takes off her glasses for a moment does a flash of her blue gaze make the girl think that she was her and that she is told in the photo book My Life in Pictures (Reel Art Press), full of images partly taken by her, partly by great photographers of the Sixties, from David Bailey to Terence Donovan, who portrayed her when she worked as a model.

How did she get into the fashion world?
«I was a shop assistant, I lived with a friend and the salary was barely enough for my half of the rent. When they asked me to pose for a photographer, I rushed. At that time, fashion was an incredible world. Up until a few years ago, clothes were ugly, sad. Suddenly, the revolution. Mary Quant’s short skirts, sure. But above all the bias cuts by Ossie Clark, with whom I became friends, which suited everyone».

Before meeting George Harrison what did you think he would have done “when he grows up”?
“I knew it. I had been to school with the nuns, who certainly didn’t encourage us to study or have a career, but only to marry. I had left home early, the situation with my mother and my stepfather was bad and I wanted to escape ».

The agency sends her to an audition and she meets the Beatles.
«I didn’t know I’d find them there, I thought it was for a commercial, but it was for To Hard Day’s Night, their first film. George pointed at me right away, I told him I was engaged. That same evening I told my boyfriend that I was going to work with the Beatles and he said, “I bet you’ll fall for Paul.” Two weeks later, on the set, George came back to me, asked me about my boyfriend, I replied that I no longer had him».

You lived with George and the Beatles at a crucial moment in their history. In 1969 George left the group briefly and after Let It Be dissolution takes place. How was that period?
“You have to think that they were friends, that they had worked together for years in a very, very intense condition, thinking about what it meant to ‘be the Beatles’ day and night. Sooner or later it had to end, that intensity burned them. Hastening the end was the fact that all four wanted to become independent. George wrote songs all the time, but Paul and John only allowed two songs by him on each album. He was frustrated, just as Paul was frustrated, he too couldn’t wait to do things only with him. However, I believe that the first to verbalize the idea of ​​disbanding was Ringo.’

Were the Beatles aware of their relevance, of the mark they would leave?
“John Lennon was, the others much less.”

You Beatles girls, how were you treated by the group’s management?
“They forbade us to talk to the press. Our relationships were kept under wraps as long as it was possible: The Beatles had to be free to allow fans to dream.”

Could she have a normal life as George’s wife?
“If by normal you mean going to a restaurant, no. We never went out, we were always at home, to avoid assaults. I was getting hate mail from fans. Haters are not an invention of
Instagram”.

She witnessed an experience of fame like never before.
“Being famous like that is like putting on an extra layer of clothes. There are those who succeed and those who don’t. If you are very shy, you can crumble».

How was George?
“He never really got used to that life, he came from a simple family, he didn’t understand why they idolized him. Fame confused him and I think he, right up to the end, sought answers to this existential short circuit. We were together in India, in those years, his has always been a very heartfelt inner search ».

Just a few years ago she wrote an autobiography in which she recounted her love triangle. Why?
“For twenty-three years I was first Mrs. Harrison and then Mrs. Clapton. I was known but, in fact, always in someone’s shadow. If we went into a store, the clerk would throw the door open for George and then slam it on me. I wondered who I was, for the first time, in depth, also thanks to long psychotherapy sessions ».

nostalgia? Regrets?
“Neither one nor the other. I like to think of the extraordinary luck of having been a girl during that magical time, but if I had any regrets, I wouldn’t be here. Of course, I would have liked to be stronger, less influenced. Maybe I should have studied, become a doctor or a teacher. Or at least I should have taken my job as a photographer more seriously».

Would you like to be more financially independent?
“Perhaps. The truth is, money was never talked about in the 1960s. Nobody wrote songs or took pictures with the idea of ​​getting rich. It was something else that moved us».

On the other hand, there was much talk of an open couple, was she jealous?
“Very. How can you be with beautiful, rich and famous men and not feel jealousy? Men are so flattered by the women who worship them that they end up falling in love with them.”

George, Eric were jealous of her?
«I think so, even if it is difficult for men to admit it. Jealousy is seen as a weakness and it is. It’s the worst of our emotions, it sends us out of control.”

Do you consider yourself a feminist?
“I wish women knew that they are stronger than they think. Is that a feminist enough phrase, in your opinion?’

I would say yes. Last question: what is your relationship with Eric Clapton today?
«I go out, I still hang out with friends, I go to the theater. He lives almost a recluse, so I don’t even know if our relationship can be defined. We text each other, on the phone. Usually I write to give him the news of the death of someone we knew, he thanks me. Until the next obituary.’

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