Olivia Trinidad Arias worked as a secretary at A&M Records, where she met George Harrison. Harrison gave birth to the couple's son, musician Dhani Harrisonin August 1978. Olivia and George married in a private ceremony in September 1978 at the Henley-on-Thames Register Office in England.

Olivia Harrison attended Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach's wedding in 1981 without her wedding ring, giving rise to the mistaken speculation that her marriage to George was a hoax.[citation needed] In the early 1990s, along with the other Beatles wives Barbara Bach Starkey, Linda McCartney and Yoko Ono, Harrison founded theRomanian Angel Appeal to provide aid to children living in devastation in Romania.

In 1999, George and Olivia were attacked by a deranged man who broke into their home. George went downstairs after hearing noises. Moments later, George came in, followed by his attacker and was stabbed multiple times. Olivia attacked the assailant with a "heavy table lamp" and the assailant turned on her. Later, they were both treated for their wounds at a hospital. The man was quoted as saying he was on a "mission sent by God," and that the Beatles were 'witches.'

Harrison produced the memorial Concert For George in 2002 at London's Royal Albert Hall, which featured Eric Clapton,Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar, Ringo Starr, and her son, Dhani. Proceeds from the event were given to George's Material World Charitable Foundation. Harrison's video production received the Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video in 2004.[2] She wrote the introduction for the 2002 book I Me Mine and authored the book Concert for George: A Celebration of the Life of George Harrison in 2006.

Harrison appeared on-stage at Microsoft's 1 June 2009, E3 press conference with Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to promote the The Beatles: Rock Band video game.

She co-produced the Martin Scorsese film George Harrison: Living in the Material World and appeared with Scorsese at Cannes in 2010 and in New York City in the summer of 2011 to promote the documentary. She co-authored the bookGeorge Harrison: Living in the Material World, which was released in 2011.