Eric Clapton's shocking life events

The blues and rock singer-songwriter Eric Clapton felt the old saying that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. His life was marked by a constant struggle with a sense of remorse for the premature loss of his son, so although there were days when he could not get out of bed out of grief, he managed to gather strength and continue with work. Even in his earliest childhood, he discovered his musical talent, which paved the way for his great popularity.

He was born on March 30, 1945, in Ripley, England, as the first son of sixteen-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton and twenty-four-year-old soldier Edward Walter, who left his family after his birth. That is why Eric grew up in the house of his grandmother Rosa, believing for a long time that his mother was actually his older sister. 

When he turned eight, his mother remarried and went to Canada, while leaving little Eric with his grandmother. He got his first guitar from her for his thirteenth birthday, so although this instrument looked heavy and ugly, he first picked it up when he was seventeen and formed his first band, The Roosters. Although it was difficult for him to fit in with other children, playing the guitar slowly began to bring him the popularity he had never dreamed of.

It was at this time, in the 1970s, that Clapton began his solo career, which was a huge success. On the other hand, his private life began to crumble. His first great love happened to Pattie Boyd, the wife of his best friend with whom he had worked for many years.

“Little by little she became my obsession. Just like when something can't come out of your head no matter how hard you try not to think about it, and the fact that she is my best friend's wife made me feel weird, bitter, and sweet at the same time that ate me up” - says Eric and explains how one of the worst days of his life was when he decided to tell his friend George who his love was.

“I decided to be a gentleman and take all the blame on myself. When I told George that we were together, it seemed to me that he already knew that” - the legendary musician recalls while, like many rock stars, he had huge problems with addiction diseases that could have cost him his life and career.

Together with his beloved Pattie, Eric retired to an estate in England for a while, and his sweetheart took care of the musician and did everything to cure him of heroin addiction. With her boundless love, she succeeded, and the couple got married in a private ceremony in 1979. However, even though drugs became a thing of the past for him, this musical genius began to plunge into a new vice, alcohol.

With the help of a friend and his wife, he went to Minnesota for treatment in 1982 and spent less than a year there, and upon his return, he started working full-time again. Just when everyone thought that his life was completely settled, in 1984 he admitted that he was in a relationship with model Yvonne Kelly, with whom he had a daughter Ruth a year later, whom he did not want to admit until the early 1990s. 

Quarrels between him and Petty became more frequent because she could not stay pregnant, and in the meantime, Eric had a son Conor with Italian actress Lori del Santo, the couple divorced in peace and without harsh words.

One gloomy morning, March 1991, terrible news woke Clapton up. The scream of his mistress affected the musician's long-term insomnia. His son, Conor died, after falling out of the window of a 53^rd-floor-apartment in New York.

For the next ten years, Eric withdrew and quietly suffered for his dearest son, and for him, he wrote the song "Tears in Paradise", which won six Grammys. He did not leave the house for days, he fought with himself, and his demons and tried not to sink, and his work helped him recover.