Pattie Boyd as the former wife of George Harrison has shared her own frustrations with the Sam Mendes-directed flicks.
Boyd was recently the premiere guest on a brand-new podcast hosted by Chris O’Dell, the famed tour manager of The Beatles as well as a suite of other famous English acts of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. During the hour-long chat, Boyd and O’Dell eventually got on the topic of the four biopics, and how Boyd would be played by White Lotus actress Aimee Lou Wood. It was at this point that Boyd revealed that no one from the production had ever contacted her regarding her depiction or part in the real-life story.
“I thought it would be polite to mention it to me, or let me know if they’ve got someone who is going to be playing me,” Boyd said. “Wouldn’t they let me know?”
O’Dell, who also said she also hadn’t been contacted despite her vital connections to The Beatles, said, “I thought you’d be a consultant.” Boyd responded, “I could’ve told them really great stories. But I don’t think they wanted to know.”
From there, O’Dell and Boyd pondered just what kind of stories these films would tell without involving folks like themselves. Boyd said that she thinks “they want to create something that’s completely different…a different story.” When O’Dell responded that we “might be seeing the filmmaker’s version of what happened,” Boyd said that such a prospect has “nothing to do with the truth of what happened. Because they didn’t want to talk to anyone who was there.”
Despite her general tone and word choice, Boyd stressed that none of this “drives her crazy,” as O’Dell had suggested. Rather, “she’s doing the opposite. I’m going to be a very good girl and not get grumpy and growly.”
Boyd added, “People don’t have manners anymore. People don’t care, and if somebody doesn’t care, you can’t do anything about it.”
Normally, these kinds of comments might ring as mere sour grapes from someone who felt slighted. But given Boyd’s position in The Beatles canon — as both wife and muse of Harrison, and an important observer/player in late ’60s English rock scene in general — her inclusion would make sense. Factor in O’Dell’s own “snubbing,” and this feels like a missed opportunity by the creators to tap into some still-living perspectives of the Fab Four.
Boyd has spoken about a new documentary film about Clapton, which reveals details of her relationships with the two rock rivals.
Despite she and Clapton having no relationship today, she did participate in the upcoming officially sanctioned Showtime documentary, Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars, which she described as "a brutally honest portrayal of someone in pain.”
Boyd — who married third husband, property developer Rod Weston in 2015 — spoke about the doc, saying: “I think he’s brave to have done it. It showed me so many of Eric’s problems stemmed from his childhood and how unbearably cruel his mother was.”
In an interview with The Times magazine today Pattie, now 73 and married to her third husband Rod Weston, is asked who was the love of her life.
She replied: “I think George. He was always very loving.” “Even after we split he was always my friend. We’d still speak on the phone.“And he came to see me before he died. If you love somebody you do that. And I think he always loved me.”She is less flattering about Erid though, saying: “Eric loves himself. I don’t think there’s much room for me.”
Miss Boyd said she felt ‘neglected’ by Harrison when she left him after eight years of marriage but also tremendous guilt for walking out.
She has revealed that she recently rediscovered a message sent to her by the Beatle to clear the air.
Harrison wrote the note while he was on tour in 1976 – some two years after their relationship broke down.Although the world was instantly aware that Boyd has left Harrison for Clapton, it was actually another 1973 affair that truly shook the core of their marriage. George Harrison started a brief, but torrid affair with Ringo Starr‘s wife — and the mother of his three children — Maureen Starkey, with the relationship pretty much signaling the end of both the former Beatle’s marriages.
