A dark-haired, mini-skirted, 18-year-old hairdresser from a Liverpool council flat had actually married a Beatle.
Yesterday in the high court you could see Maureen still has great legs, a slim figure, and a face, unfortunately, that has seen too many Hard Days Nights.
Now the 41-year old ex-Mrs. Ringo Starr is locked in a legal dispute with top London solicitors Withers, who represented her during her divorce from Ringo in 1975 and from who she is claiming damages for not negotiating a big enough settlement.
At the time she received from her millionaire husband a £125,000 settlement plus a yearly allowance that has since risen to £70,000.
As she sat in the witness box, pale, coughing and wiping perspiration from her drawn face she gave a fascinating insight into life as a Beatles’ wife.
Cost
When she saw a dress in a magazine she would simply ring Apple - the Beatles’ headquarters - and get them to buy it for her.
She said: "Ritchie put in £5,000 every so often and when that was finished I’d ask his secretary Barbara for more."
Maureen said repeatedly that she had no idea of money or what anything cost.
Taxis, cars, parties, nightclubs, holidays, staff wages - everything was taken care of by Barbara or Apple.
Her QC Thayne Forbes questioned her gently about her lifestyle in the Sixties and Seventies when she lived in Tittenhurst Park, the Berkshire mansion she shared with Ringo and their three children.
What was clear was that she had lived like a child bride, indulged, cossetted, without any information about Ringo’s finances.
Sadly, she did not have any close friends on whom she could call for support or advice during the divorce.
"We did not have any close friends," she said softly, in a slight Liverpool accent. "Because of our position… I suppose. Lots of aquaintances, but few close friends."
Maureen met Ringo when she was 15 and working in Liverpool as a hairdressing apprentice.
I had to leave that job after a year because of Beatles fans. I was still based in Liverpool with my mum and dad and I used to visit London to see Ritchie."
The most poignant moment came when she was asked by Mr. Forbes why she had signed an affadavit saying she could no longer live with Ringo.
"I couldn’t say that in court because it just wasn’t true. I did want to live with him. I loved him. I wanted to stay married. I wanted to stay in Tittenhurst Park because it was our home."
When Mr. Forbes reminded her that her husband was having an affair at the time Maureen shrugged helplessly, "I knew that. I was hurt but it didn’t change my feelings for Ritchie. I thought that because he wanted a divorce that that’s what we had to do."
Contact
"Ritchie gave me the names of two or three solicitors. I can’t remember how I got in contact with them. I was very upset at the time."
The child bride was then 28 and discovering just how bewildering life was going to be like outside the Beatles empire.
Maureen remembered that she and Ringo went to Harrods just before every Christmas shopping for their cchildren. Forbes asked: "And how did you pay for that?"
"I don’t know," whispered Maureen. "I think they must have sent the bill to Barbara."