Messy Details About George Harrison's Affair With Ringo Starr's Wife

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The following article includes mentions of addiction and domestic abuse.

The Beatles wrote some of the most beautiful love songs of all time but their personal love lives were messy, to say the least. In most cases, the Fab Four's various affairs were problems to be worked out between them and their wives. George Harrison, however, once crossed the line and had a tryst with Ringo Starr's wife, Maureen Cox. The two met in 1962, just as the Beatles were becoming the biggest band in the world, and tied the knot three years later. In the next few years, Starr and Cox had two sons and a daughter, but when the Beatles broke up in 1970, the drummer turned to drinking, saying, "It got progressively worse, and the blackouts got worse, and I didn't know where I'd been, what I'd done" (via the Mirror). It was during that period that Starr began to abuse Cox and, in turn, she searched for comfort elsewhere, finding it in the arms of Harrison.

While it wasn't the first time Harrison cheated on his wife, Pattie Boyd, it was the one that hurt most. Boyd considered Cox a friend, writing in her memoir, "Wonderful Today," "She was the last person I would have expected to stab me in the back, but she did." According to Boyd, she found her husband and Cox together in their home and, making matters worse, the two didn't try to hide it. "Her attitude was very much that she had the right to spend the night with George if she felt like it." 

In time, Harrison told his former bandmate about the affair. According to "George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle," Starr responded, "Better you than someone we don't know." Boyd left Harrison in 1974 and Cox left Starr a year later.

Even in the midst of Beatlemania, Maureen Cox preferred to stay out of the press, explaining during a press conference while on her honeymoon with Ringo Starr, "Well, I don't like reporters and things." In the years that followed their divorce, Cox continued to keep to herself, but in 1988, she gave an in-depth interview to Le Chronicleur, where she hinted that, not unlike Pattie Boyd and George Harrison, she and Starr had reconnected over the years and become friendly, saying (via Express), "Richy is such a cheerful, peaceful man that it's wonderful to talk with him. He has a wonderful sense of humor and can be very charming at times." After she left the famous drummer, Cox met and married Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe. 

Starr also remarried, meeting his second wife, Barbara Bach, while making the movie "Caveman." The two married in 1980 with former bandmates Paul McCartney and George Harrison in attendance. Starr was still in the midst of his substance abuse issues at the time and Bach was dealing with her own addiction, as well. For Starr, rock-bottom came when, as he explained to the Independent, "I came to one Friday afternoon and was told by the staff that I had trashed the house so badly they thought there had been burglars, and I'd trashed Barbara so badly they thought she was dead." He and Bach soon entered rehab and have been sober ever since. Tragically, Cox was diagnosed with leukemia. Starr was by her side when she died in 1994. 

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.