The story of how Eric Clapton met Melia McEnery is actually pretty endearing. According to the Daily Mail, Ohio native McEnery used to be an Armani sales executive. The now-couple met in 1998 at a party she threw for the company, which Clapton attended since he’s friends with Giorgio Armani, per The Telegraph. According to Clapton, McEnery approached him and said, “My uncle’s a big fan of yours, can I get your autograph?” After that, the rest is history. “I started asking her out, and we became friends. And with her I found I was able to respond to something that was actually good for me,” he told The Telegraph.
In 2002, Clapton and McEnery got married in a surprise ceremony on New Year’s Day in the same English town where he grew up, according to E! News. Per Billboard, the wedding ceremony doubled as a baptism for the couple’s then-six-month-old daughter, Julia Rose, and his older daughter, Ruth Patricia, from a previous relationship. At the time of their wedding, McEnery was 25 and Clapton was 56. In addition to Julia Rose, the couple went on to have two more daughters together: Ella May and Sophie Belle.
Written by: Nicki