The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr met Maureen Cox in 1962. The couple started to get to know each other in the same week Starr became a Beatles member. They began dating soon after and decided to tie the knot in February 1965. Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein joined them on this day as their best man. Starr’s stepfather Harry Graves and George Harrison were witnesses.
Ringo and Maureen welcomed their first child in the same year of their marriage. They named him Zak Richard Starkey. Their second son Jason was born on August 19, 1967, and their daughter Lee Starkey opened her eyes to the world on November 11, 1970.
Sadly, the pair got divorced in 1975 due to Starr’s repeated affairs with other women. This divorce affected Maureen and Lee Starkey deeply.
Maureen Starkey Had A Tragic Life
Ringo Starr and Maureen Cox started dating in 1962. Starr proposed to Cox on January 20, 1965, at the Ad Lib Club in London. They found out that Maureen, who was 18 at that time, was pregnant. They got married on February 11, 1965, at the Caxton Hall Register Office, London. Ringo and Maureen had a honeymoon for three days.
Maureen was the wife of the drummer of one of the most famous bands, but she didn’t like the spotlight.
The couple’s first two children were born during a period when Starr’s career was thriving. Lee Parkin Starkey’s birth in November 1970 coincided with the Beatles’ breakup and Starrs’ divorce. The drummer had alcoholism and was having affairs with other women. Maureen also cheated on him with George Harrison.
She didn’t want this marriage to end, though.
They eventually got divorced on July 17, 1975, after Starr’s affair with model Nancy Lee Andrews. The drummer agreed to give Maureen custody of their children and provide financial support. Maureen fell into depression after the divorce, and she even attempted suicide by riding her motorbike into a brick wall.
Maureen started to live with Isaac Tigrett a year after the divorce. The two married on May 27, 1989, and had one daughter. Sadly, Maureen was diagnosed with leukemia in 1994. Lee Starkey supported her mother while she was receiving treatment and looked after Maureen until her passing on December 30, 1994.
Lee, Jason, Zakk, Maureen’s mother, Tigrett, and Starr were at her bedside when she died. Paul McCartney wrote his ‘Little Willow’ in Maureen’s memory.
Lee Starkey Is The Daughter of a Struggling Woman
Maureen didn’t enjoy a happy marriage or a wealthy life despite being the wife of a famous musician. Lee stayed with her mother after the divorce and developed a strong bond with her half-sister Augusta King Tigrett. Lee attended Starr and Barbara Bach’s wedding in 1981 as a bridesmaid along with Bach’s daughter Francesca Gregorini.
Lee attended King Alfred’s School in Hampstead, London. She decided to leave school at 16 and worked at Tower Records for a brief time. Lee enrolled in drama and make-up artist school, but she realized she didn’t want to follow this career. So, Lee continued working in Tower Records and later started to work with her stepfather in Hard Rock Café.
Lee didn’t want to be under the spotlight as Ringo Starr’s daughter just like her mother. She opened a boutique in London, but her mother asked her to come to the US. She then moved to LA in the early 1990s and opened a boutique with her friend. This wasn’t a successful business for her. Lee then moved into Maureen and Isaac’s house.
Lee wanted to continue working as a fashion designer, but Maureen’s leukemia diagnosis in 1994 caused her to put these plans on a shelf.
Lee left her career aside to take care of her mother. She sadly passed away on December 30, 1994. Lee was diagnosed with a rare-type brain tumor the following year when she collapsed in her father’s home. Lee then had surgery to remove the tumor and received radiation therapy. She developed another tumor and continued her battle with cancer.
Lee Starkey is now fully recovered and living a happy life with her partner Jay Mehler and their three kids.
