Rock music’s preeminent muse Patti Boyd has opened up about the harsh treatment she received from fans at the peak of husband George Harrison’s fame with The Beatles.
In a new Harpers Bazaar interview by Taylor Swift, of all people, Boyd shared her experience receiving rough treatment at the hands of jealous rivals:
“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,” she recalled.
“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.
“It was absolutely terrifying.”
Nerds among you will be itching to remind anybody in earshot that Boyd, who inspired the Beatles’ deathless ballad ‘Something’, later ran off with Harrison’s mate Eric Clapton, inspiring a brace of Clapton’s classic hits including ‘Layla’ and ‘Wonderful Tonight’.
Swift, to her credit as interviewer, showed off her encyclopedic rock knowledge by reminding Boyd the latter song was written while Slow Hands was patiently waiting for his ladyfriend and muse to get ready for a night out.
“I came downstairs with trepidation thinking [Eric] was going to be so angry that I’d taken far too long, and instead he said, ‘Listen, I’ve just written this song.’”
Anyway, back to the Beatles fans who used to be arseholes towards her – Boyd happily says nowadays she has a much better relationship with the baying hordes:
“It was such a long time ago,” she says with palpable relief.
“The fans haven’t held on to the same antagonistic feelings toward me. Actually they seem happy that I’m sharing the photographs I took. One time I was having an exhibition, and these girls turned up dressed like me in A Hard Day’s Night.”
Beatles fans burying the hatchet, eh. Turns out all you need is love.
