Pattie Boyd says Beatlemania was 'terrifying'

12 July 2018

Pattie Boyd admits Beatlemania was "absolutely terrifying".

Pattie Boyd

The 74-year-old model was married to the Beatles guitarist George Harrison at the peak of their popularity and Pattie has admitted that the incessant interest in the band was something she found to be completely overwhelming.

She recalled: "In my first experience, I found it absolutely terrifying. I got to see the Beatles play at a theatre in London, and George told me that I should leave with my friends before the last number.

"So before the last song, we got up from our seats and walked toward the nearest exit door, and there were these girls behind me. They followed us out, and they were kicking me and pulling my hair and pushing us all the way down this long passageway."

Pattie and George - who passed away in 2001 - tried to escape the public's attention by moving into the countryside.

The British icon explained that the idea was first mentioned by Brian Epstein, the band's manager, and Pattie recalled how they turned their new abode into a "psychedelic monster".

She told Harper's Bazaar magazine: "Living in London with George, there were so many fans every day, it became impossible to leave the flat.

"Brian Epstein thought there might be an idea that John, Ringo, and George move to the country, have little houses about an hour out of London. We would decorate the outside of our house with spray-paint cans. The whole house was like a psychedelic monster."

Pattie later divorced the Beatles star and married his friend and fellow musician Eric Clapton in 1979.

Despite the acrimonious nature of their divorce nearly a decade later, the rock icon still gave Pattie permission to publish some of the love letters he wrote in her memoir 'Wonderful Tonight'.

Asked how their relationship has mellowed over recent years, Pattie - who was the inspiration for Eric's 1977 ballad 'Wonderful Tonight' - reflected: "I think time must play a big part. Because it all broke up for whatever reason, there is no need to carry on some sort of hate or dislike for this person.

"And then with time I thought, 'I'll just call on Eric and see if he'll let me use these wonderful letters that he wrote, and if he needs anything from me, he just needs to call me, same thing, and I would say 'yes' to him.'"