Pattie Boyd, George Harrison, And Eric Clapton's Love Triangle Drama Explained

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Pattie Boyd and George Harrison were one of the biggest couples of the glamorous Swinging Sixties, until their complicated love lives got in the way of their marriage. The Beatles' guitarist was a living rock 'n' roll legend leading a lifestyle that did the status justice, and the model was growing tired of it. In the background was Eric Clapton, the fiery guitar god who became close friends with Harrison in the late '60s and fell hard for his wife, sparking one of music history's most scandalous love triangles.

Clapton tried to suppress his affection for her at first, going so far as to date Boyd's sister to channel his feelings elsewhere. But toward the beginning of the '70s, the guitarist began to make his feelings known, sending her love letters in which he questioned her love for Harrison. Clapton was relentless. Still, Boyd resisted his advances. But when Clapton released the 1973 hit song "Layla," Boyd was moved. "The song got the better of me, with the realization that I had inspired such passion and such creativity. I could resist no longer," she wrote in her 2007 memoir, "Wonderful Tonight."

By this time, Harrison's unfaithfulness was getting to Boyd. When her husband struck up one of the messiest celebrity affairs of the '70s by becoming involved with Ringo Starr's wife, Maureen Starkey, in 1974, Boyd decided she'd had enough. The two split and Boyd got together with Clapton. Despite the years-long pursuit, however, Boyd and Clapton's relationship also wasn't meant to last.

Pattie Boyd's relationship with Eric Clapton began while she was still officially married to George Harrison. This being the rock 'n' roll reality of the '70s, all parties involved, including Ringo Starr and Maureen Starkey, still mingled and frequented each other's houses. During one of Harrison and Clapton's guitar sessions, when the latter was already with Boyd, the Beatle star reportedly said, "I suppose I'd better divorce her," according to author Philip Norman in his biography, "George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle" (via Fox News). Clapton responded, "Well if you do, I suppose that means I've got to marry her."

Boyd divorced in 1977 and married Clapton in 1979, a decade after his infatuation with her began. Clapton and Harrison remained friends, with the latter taking to calling the former his husband-in-law following the wedding. On the other hand, Clapton's burning passion for Boyd must've burned itself out. Soon enough, Clapton was unfaithful to Boyd, even fathering children with two separate women during their marriage in 1985 and 1986.

When he got the second woman pregnant, Clapton told Boyd about it. At the time, she was smack in the middle of her struggles with infertility and undergoing IVF. "It was horrible. It was a stab in the heart, horrible," she told Starts at 60 in 2018. He wanted to work things out but Boyd knew it was the beginning of the end. His infidelities and growing issues with alcohol addiction became too much to bear. Clapton and Boyd ultimately divorced in 1989.