An Intimate Look at George and Olivia Harrison Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply. Close

An Intimate Look at George Harrison From the Woman Who Knew Him Best

Olivia Harrison talks with AARP about her new very personal book of poetry about falling in love and living with and losing her celebrated husband

Genesis Publications/Michael Simon Lighting a candle wasn’t enough. Olivia Harrison, 74, marks the 20th anniversary of husband George Harrison’s death with bittersweet passion and graceful, bracing verse in Came the Lightening: Twenty Poems for George, a collection of 20 intimate poems about the couple’s life. The book also contains previously unpublished photos and artwork, with a foreword by longtime friend Martin Scorsese, director of the documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011), who writes: “This is a work that celebrates love but sees its transitory nature with clarity.” Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Theirs began like many modern love stories: at work. But nothing else about the romance was routine. The former Beatle first encountered the sharp, 26-year-old brunette working in marketing at Los Angeles’ A&M Records, distributor of his Dark Horse label. They wed in 1978, a month after the birth of their son, Dhani. They shared interests in spirituality and reveled in the privacy and serenity of Friar Park, the circa-1889 30-room mansion on 62 acres in Oxfordshire, England. George bought it in 1970 and became a fanatic. Olivia Harrison Josh Giroux In Came the Lightening, Olivia addresses their bond with nature, their similar childhoods, her adjustment to his celebrity world and his near murder in 1999, when a delusional man broke into their home and stabbed George. (Olivia fought back with a fireplace poker and table lamp.) She deals candidly with George’s 2001 death from and the grief that gutted her. After mourning in seclusion, Olivia assumed her husband’s role as one of five directors of Apple Corps, controlling the Beatles empire. She wrote a book to accompany the Scorsese documentary, produced the Concert for George all-star tribute, oversaw his recording catalog and reissue campaigns, and produced films, documentaries and box sets. She remains a tireless philanthropist and now, to her surprise she says, she’s a poet. She talks with AARP about falling in love with George, competing in a Beatles-crazy world and finding solace in the garden in the face of enormous grief. Entertainment $3 off popcorn and soft drink combos See more Entertainment offers >

Had you always planned to write about George

I hadn’t ever planned to. I sometimes thought, All us [Beatles] girls have so many stories, wouldn’t it be fun if we all wrote chapters? I’ve been doing a lot of archiving and research, and I thought, Dude, I'm next. What would I see on my last trip down that Friar Park drive? In 2018, I was sitting up late, thinking about a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Here Is a Wound That Never Will Heal, I Know.” That kicked it off. Olivia Harrison recreates the iconic album cover for George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass,’ which was brought to life for its 50th anniversary with a public, living art installation by renowned British florist, Ruth Davis, at Duke of York Square in London, England on August 6, 2021. Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Universal Music Group

You confront your grief in Another Spring and Death Is Good for the Garden which also reveals how nature helped you heal You rage against the garden then turn to it for solace

George died in November. We thought at least we would have another spring. We worked on the garden a lot. What I was trying to say when I wrote about falling to the lawn and ripping out the grass is: You’re angry, you’re in pain. As the time passed, I felt remorse. I really got into the garden, and all that energy went out into nature.

George was the most private Beatle What do you hope readers will learn about him

His life is somewhat documented. People know about Hamburg and Liverpool. But I wanted people to hear it from me. I wrote “Tuum Corpus” (“your body” in Latin) because I wanted people to know what he looked like, about how he got the scars on his fingers, his lessons in life. He said, “I speared a fish. It was so little. It looked so big through the mask. I threw it back, and it slashed my fingers. I had to squeeze lemon on my fingers.” He called the scars instant karma. AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe More on entertainment AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS