The Beatles Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Olivia Harrison
OliviaHarrisonApr09
Born May 18, 1948 (age 75)
Occupation Film Director

Olivia Harrison is George Harrison's widow.

Early Life

Olivia Trinidad Arias was born on May 18, 1948 in Mexico City. Her parents were Zeke and Mary Louise Arias. She had two siblings, Peter and Linda. Three years after her birth, the family moved to California.

She was educated in that same place and later graduated from Hawthorne High School. Shortly after, she started working as a secretary in an office of A&M Records and then taken to Dark Horse, George's company.

Relationship With George Harrison

GEOOLI 011

George and Olivia in 1977

Olivia met Harrison in 1974 while they attended a party. After that, they used to talk on the telephone and didn't take too long before they could see they had much in common. It was then when Harrison invited her to join him on his American tour, where they officially started their relationship.

Shortly after the tour, they moved to Harrison's mansion, Friar Park on Henley-On-Thames, England. The couple decided to marry as soon as possible once Harrison's divorce was finished, which was on June 1977. Sometime later, Olivia discovered she was pregnant, so the decision to be married was made. Unfortunately, the wedding did not occur as they wanted, due to the death of George's father in May 1978.

Their one and only child, Dhani, was born on August 1, 1978 at Princess Christian Nursing Home. The wedding ceremony took place a month later, on September 2, 1978, with few guests. Joe Brown was their Best Man.

George and Olivia are unique among Beatles couples, as they largely kept their lives private, especially after George released his album George Harrison in 1981, where he dedicated "Dark Sweet Lady" and "Soft Touch" to his wife and child respectively.

Charity

Olivia has also helped several charity causes. In 1989, after the deprivation of Romania's orphanages, she travelled there together with other influential celebrities, like Elton John, to see what she could do. It was also on this occasion when she and George tried to adopt a child, but were stopped by the Romanian government.[citation needed]

After this, she got the support of the other Beatles' wives: Linda McCartney, Barbara Bach and Yoko Ono, together with Elton John and the British public, to create The Romanian Angel Appeal. They got 1 million pounds for the Nobody's Child account.

Michael Abram

On the night of December 30, 1999, the Harrison family suffered an attack by an intruder at Friar Park. After hearing some noise downstairs, George got up from bed and went to see what was going on. A few moments later, Olivia heard a big noise and ran too. When she got there, she couldn't believe what she was seeing; a man was attacking George with a knife. She immediately tried to stop the man, and hit him with a lamp. George was stabbed in the chest and back and Olivia got some cuts in the hands, but her injuries were not as bad as George's.[citation needed] George later praised her, stating she was responsible for saving his life during the attack.

Shortly after this, Harrison received a fax from his close friend Tom Petty that read: "Aren't you glad you married a Mexican girl?"[citation needed]

The man, who was Michael Abram, claimed that he had done that because of "God's desire". He was taken to a psychiatric clinic.[citation needed]

Harrison's Death

Harrison developed cancer in his throat, which was discovered in 1997. He received medical treatment but it spread to his lungs and brain in 2001. George stated that the cancer was likely a result of his smoking habits and publicly blamed his life-long smoking addiction and the tobacco industry for his illness. He died on November 29, 2001 in Los Angeles.

A year after his death, Olivia, Ringo Starr and George's close friend, Eric Clapton, managed the Concert For George, which took place on the Royal Albert Hall in London with George's closest friends. The money from the tickets was dedicated to the Material World Charitable Foundation.

Advertisement