Olivia Trinidad Arias was born in California in 1948. Her family, which also included a sister, was from Mexico. Arias attended Hawthorne High School and graduated in 1963. After graduation, Arias started working as a secretary.

In 1974, Arias met George Harrison at a party. They began phone conversations and realized they had much in common. ( At the time, Arias was a secretary for A&M Records. Harrison had a recording contract with the company.) Following the disintegration of Harrison's marriage with model Pattie Boyd, Arias moved into Friar Park.

On August 1, 1978, Arias and Harrison had their first and only child, Dhani (who attends Brown University). Unfortunately, Harrison's beloved parents (who had recently died) were unable to see his marriage to Arias on September 2 of that year.

The newlyweds maintained  the lowest profile of all the Beatle couples.

Arias became involved with the Romanian Angel Appeal with Linda McCartney, Yoko Ono and Barbara Bach in the early nineties. Arias was deeply concerned about the devastation Romanian children were facing and wanted to adopt a disabled child from the country. Although the government stopped the Harrison's' efforts, the Appeal has raised over a million dollars.