British guitar legend Eric Clapton secretly married the 25-year-old mother of his baby daughter on New Year’s Day.
With family and friends in attendance, Clapton, 56, wed his American girlfriend Melia McEnery in a low-key ceremony near his home in Surrey, England, Britain’s The Sun reports.
When they were invited, guests were told they were attending the double christening of the couple’s 6-month-old daughter Julie and Clapton‘s 16-year-old daughter Ruth. After the baptism, it was revealed the couple would marry.
Reverend Christopher Elson, who performed the ceremony, said in a statement, “It was a very happy occasion and I pray God’s blessing upon Eric and Melia in their married life as well as for Julie and Ruth at the beginning of their Christian lives.”
Ruth was born after Clapton had an affair with her mother, Yvonne Kelly, but he did not meet her until she was 8 years old.
Musician Andy Fairweather-Low attended the ceremony, and his wife Barbara told the paper, “We went there thinking it was a christening for the girls. But at the end of the ceremony the vicar said, ‘We have two people here who want to get married as well.’
“Then Eric stepped forward and everyone cheered. Everybody was very happy for them.”
The ceremony took place at St. Mary Magdalen church at Ripley, just 15 miles from Clapton‘s home.
After the two exchanged vows, Clapton took McEnery to visit the grave of his son Conor, who is buried in the church’s graveyard.
The 4-year-old died in 1991 after falling from the 53rd floor of a high rise in New York. Conor was the inspiration for Clapton‘s hit single “Tears in Heaven.”
Clapton was married for nine years to Patti Boyd, George Harrison’s former partner. The pair divorced in June 1998. Boyd blamed the split on Clapton‘s affair with Conor’s mother, Lori Del Santo.
Clapton met McEnery, a graphic artist from Ohio, in Los Angeles three years ago while working on an album with B.B. King.
