Del Santo was a focus of gossip columns, mainly for her relationship with Eric Clapton (who dedicated the song "Lady of Verona" to her) and for the death of their son, Conor. While he was still married to Pattie Boyd, Clapton fathered Conor who was born on 21 August 1986. Conor died in 1991, at the age of four and a half, when he fell out of an open bedroom window on the 53rd floor of a Manhattan apartment building. The death of their son was the inspiration for Clapton's songs, "Tears in Heaven" and "Circus Left Town".