George Harrison & Pattie Boyd's Relationship Was Refreshingly Respectful After Divorce

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From the moment they met in 1964, George Harrison and Pattie Boyd's romance seemed predetermined. Both were smitten, and in a prescient move, Harrison proposed marriage to break the ice. However, it wasn't quite that straightforward, since Boyd was already in a relationship. Even so, Harrison's charm caused her to reexamine her love life, and once she was single, the Beatle seized the opportunity. Harrison and Boyd made a stunning couple, and they got married in 1966. "I thought, 'This is it, we are sealing a declaration of love together for ever and we are going to live happily ever after,'" Boyd recalled to The Times in 2016.

Unfortunately, complications started arising. By 1970, Harrison's friend Eric Clapton was already in love with Boyd and sending her letters to find out if she felt the same way. She didn't — but eventually Harrison's infidelities and Clapton's persistence changed her mind. Boyd and Harris divorced in 1977. Despite this messy ending, the former couple maintained a tight connection. He was supportive of her new relationship and, true to his wacky sense of humor, invented the term "husband-in-law" (via People) to characterize his relationship with Clapton.

Harrison was also a reassuring presence. For years, Boyd had doubts about whether she'd made the right decision. When she later confessed to these misgivings, Harrison didn't mince words. "He said, 'No you didn't, I was an absolute s***', which I thought was terribly sweet and generous of him," Boyd recalled to The Argus in 2007.

In her memoir, "Wonderful Tonight," Pattie Boyd asserted that George Harrison's loyalty to Eric Clapton played a crucial role in the end of their marriage. "I think George might have behaved as he did because it was his friend," she wrote. "He was such a selfless, generous person that he let it happen." Happily, Harrison's loyalty to Boyd helped maintain their enduring connection. 

Boyd wasn't starstruck over either of her music icon husbands, although Harrison was once surprisingly jealous of her modeling career. She always appreciated Harrison for himself, and post-divorce, the former couple supported each other during tough times. "I knew he would always be there for me," Boyd informed the Daily Mail in 2022. "After Eric and I split up, I was in a bit of turmoil, so I thought, 'I'll go and see George.' So I phoned and said I'm coming over for tea. And it was lovely."

Near the end of his life, Harrison also sought out Boyd for a tea date. After dealing with throat cancer in 1997, the former Beatle faced a lung cancer diagnosis in 2001. During their visit, Harrison left his longtime friend with an exquisite image as he looked at some flowers in the breeze, observing that they were "shivering," Boyd recalled to People in 2022. "Only George would think flower shiver. It was so sweet." Harrison's connection to nature was also a standout feature of his relationship with Paul McCartney. He gave McCartney a fir tree, which now serves as a source of connection decades after Harrison's death.