The dizzying bedhopping and entangled romantic liaisons that were standard for rock stars are brought into focus as Pattie Boyd sells heartfelt and revealing letters from Eric Clapton who pursued her while she was married to Beatle George Harrison. Despite being obsessed and desperately in love with Pattie, Clapton was dating her sister Paula while ostensibly in a relationship with aristocrat Alice Ormsby-Gore.
Pattie eventually split from Harrison after reportedly finding him in bed with bandmate Ringo Starr’s then-wife Maureen. Before going on to marry Clapton she had a fling with Rolling Stone Ronnie Woods whose first wife, Krissy Findlay, had dated Clapton, married Wood, then had an affair with Harrison.
She stayed married to Clapton for 10 years until his infidelity broke them up as his mistress got pregnant. All too exhausting. Though both Boyd and Clapton are now seemingly in long term established relationships with other partners since 1991 and 1998 respectively.
Pattie Boyd was born 17 March 1944 4am Taunton, England and became a model and photographer. She inspired Harrison’s songs “I Need You”, “If I Needed Someone”, “Something” and “For You Blue”, and Clapton’s songs “Layla”, “Bell Bottom Blues” and “Wonderful Tonight”.
She has a 3rd house Sun Mercury in creative Pisces, a sign suited to photography, at home with images rather than words. Her Pisces Sun Mercury is square a troubled and angry Mars Saturn in Gemini hinting at a tough childhood with divorced parents. Most noticeably she had a powerful and confident Jupiter Pluto in Leo in her 8th, perhaps a hint of why she attracted successful men.
She was probably better suited to Harrison, 24 February 1943 11.42pm Liverpool, for all his infidelity since his Jupiter in Cancer fell in her 7th and his Venus in Pisces was conjunct her Sun. His Pisces Sun was conjunct her Venus. But his erratic, unpredictable Saturn Uranus in the 8th square a fun-loving Pisces Sun in his 5th would not make for a settled emotional life.
Clapton, 30 March 1945 8.45pm Ripley, England, also has Uranus in his 8th for a changeable emotional life and erratic temperament, especially since it forms a volatile square to his 5th house Mars. His hard-working Aries Sun in his 6th opposes Neptune and forms a talented Half Grand Sextile to Uranus and an influential/controlling 10th house Pluto. His marriage to Boyd was marred by his infidelities and domestic violence. In a 1999 interview with The Sunday Times, he admitted to raping and abusing her while they were married and he was a “full-blown” alcoholic who felt entitled to sex.
Both Harrison and Claton had intense Scorpio Moons and both had dominating Pluto in their 10th. In both relationship charts there were Mars Pluto combinations, leading to anger issues and resentment.
It is interesting that all three have 8th house planets emphasizing Martin Mortiz’s point –
“The eighth house is associated with entanglements, power games, boundary crossings, or dealing with taboos.”
And despite it all she was bemoaning recently that there are no ”’proper men’ around nowadays. She clearly liked it rough and stormy.