SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Now Clapton pals step in to help his dying brother

Eric Clapton is no stranger to tragedy, having suffered the loss his four-year-old son in 1991. So it is perhaps understandable that when faced with yet another family drama, he is reluctant to get involved.

The multi-millionaire rocker’s half-brother, drug addict Eddie Fryer has incurable liver disease and faces dying in poverty after being given just months to live by his doctors.

But despite his own well-chronicled battles with drink and drugs in the Seventies, Clapton, I am told, is yet to make contact with Eddie — who lives in homeless hostels surviving on disability handouts — since his condition became known.

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Eddie Fryer
Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton (right) is yet to make contact with his half-brother, drug addict Eddie Fryer (left) has incurable liver disease and faces dying in poverty after being given just months to live by his doctors

Instead, it is the guitarist’s friends, including record producer Rob Fraboni, Clapton’s best man at his 1979 wedding to first wife Pattie Boyd, and former tour manager Larry McNeny who are the ones who have decided to help out Eddie after learning of his plight.

‘Eddie’s terrible situation has touched us. Regardless of whether he is Eric’s brother or whoever he is, Eddie is a human being and we would just like to help,’ says Larry.

‘We’re not looking to embarrass Eric in any way. Rob Fraboni and another friend who also used to work with Eric brought Eddie’s situation to my attention, and we felt we had to get involved.

‘We’re hoping to raise some money to help Eddie get the treatment that he needs and hopefully get him clean so that he can then have a liver transplant.

‘We need to move quickly because we don’t know how much time Eddie has left.’

Clapton, 70, who is worth £125 million, and Eddie, who lives in Vancouver, share the same father, a Canadian former serviceman called Edward Fryer Snr, who was stationed in Surrey during the war.

After discovering their family connection in 2000, the two brothers, who have never met, began corresponding by letter, but have not been in touch with each other for several years.

 

Following her tell-all autobiography, Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood’s ex-wife Jo is throwing open the family photo albums. 

‘It will be a coffee table picture book of unseen pictures of people and places and parties from the past 30 years,’ she tells me. 

Jo’s 2013 memoir was chock-full of juicy tales about her and Ronnie’s druggy antics. Her ‘selfies’ should be a hoot...

 
The Royals stars Liz Hurley and Joan Collins (right) and Home and Away actress Alexandra Park (left)

The Royals stars Liz Hurley and Joan Collins (right) and Home and Away actress Alexandra Park (left)

Trash TV show The Royals — starring acting powerhouses Liz Hurley and Dame Joan Collins — hardly had us rushing to set the Sky box. 

‘Possibly the worst show in the history of TV’ was one critic’s verdict. But who’s responsible for writing such tripe? Step forward Scarlett Lacey, whose father Robert Lacey is one of our most distinguished royal biographers.

‘I can’t say I watched it religiously, but I have caught all the ones that Scarlett wrote,’ says Robert diplomatically.

 

Once Eddie Redmayne received his Oscar, most of us expected him to up sticks and head for the Hollywood Hills. But I have intel which suggests otherwise.

Redmayne has just put wife Hannah up for membership at West London’s ultra-exclusive Hurlingham Club. 

Candidates can usually expect a 15-year wait to join, but since her hubby is a member, Mrs R immediately joins the capital’s smartest tennis set.

Eddie Redmayne has put wife Hannah up for membership at West London’s ultra-exclusive Hurlingham Club

Eddie Redmayne has put wife Hannah up for membership at West London’s ultra-exclusive Hurlingham Club

 

Effing and blinding TV cook Gordon Ramsay says he mentored Hollywood actor Bradley Cooper for his role as a London chef in forthcoming flick Burnt. 

Says Ramsay: ‘I taught him the most important thing he needs to know to get by in a kitchen — how to swear.’ Don’t you long for Gordon to just return to manning the stove? 

Bradley Cooper
Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay (right) says he mentored actor Bradley Cooper for his role as a chef in forthcoming flick Burnt

 

While Sue Barker shows no sign of quitting hosting BBC’s Wimbledon coverage, jostling has already begun as to who’ll succeed her in the presenter’s chair. 

Ubiquitous Clare Balding was thought to be a shoo-in until this year’s disastrous highlights show, Wimbledon 2day. 

Meanwhile, the two other top candidates, former player Annabel Croft and Scots lassie Hazel Irvine, are thought to be lacking star power and Barker, 59, doesn’t rate either. ‘It’s a real vipers’ nest,’ reports a source.

 

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