Pattie Boyd Talks Art, Fashion, and Beatlemania

Photographer, model, and muse to two of the greatest musicians of our time, Pattie Boyd is Mitchell Kaplans’s guest on this edition of The Literary Life. Boyd’s new book, My Life In Pictures (published by Real Art Press) is a stunning collection of her personal photographs capturing the essence and zeitgeist of the bohemian rock and roll world of the 1960s and early 70s.

Mitchell spoke to Pattie about all of this and more in front of a live audience at Books and Books in Coral Gables, Florida.

From the episode:

Pattie Boyd: What happened was that George [Harrison] and I were in the car driving around London and he said, oh, I must go and see Brian, stay here. So he went into Brian’s house and came back and he said, “If you want, we can get married. I’ve just asked Brian when we are recording or going on tour, so the date we can get married is, you know, 21st.” And so, um, it’s not as if he asked if we could get married. He wanted to know what days the Beatles would be free.

Mitchell Kaplan: And with all the ups and downs in your relationship, I, I think this book is filled with joy, but there’s also sadness and the photograph you have in the book of the last time you saw George before his death spoke to me about just how, how close you remained, spiritually, at least in some way.

Pattie Boyd: Absolutely. We were, I think we were spiritually entwined. You know, I think we were meant to have this relationship, but, you know, sometimes relationships have a longevity, a life of their own and you can’t push it. We didn’t want to push it, you know, it was the end, but we remained friends, which, it’s always a good idea.

Mitchell Kaplan: There’s a lot of lessons in this book. “Staying a friend is a good idea” is one of them. What was it like being on the inside with Beatlemania? I know that you never toured with the Beatles, really, but what was it like, were you aware of, you know, what was happening culturally? Being so close to it? 

Pattie Boyd: No, I wasn’t aware. You see, I think what happens with time is, is that everything becomes more iconic and so, you know, at the time I was there in the center and I was really lucky to be hanging out with these amazingly fabulous guys who were so unique in the way that they communicated with each other and they were so, so funny.

And, um, I didn’t really think like, say, a journalist or a historian or, you know, I just was enjoying being there with George and in the company of these great guys. I couldn’t look forward. I couldn’t, I couldn’t imagine that, you know, here we are today, talking about them!

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