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Sean Ono Lennon, a musician and the son of famed performers Yoko Ono and John Lennon, did a BBC Radio 6 Music interview on Tuesday, December 3.
This week is the anniversary of his father’s tragic murder in 1980. During Sean’s discussion, he revealed that he believes that Yoko, now 91, never moved on from her relationship with John, who was 40 at the time of his death.
“I grew up with my mom speaking about my dad every day,” Sean, 49, said. “She famously cut her hair when my dad died [because] in Japan, you used to cut your hair when your husband dies. So she spoke of him every day and I think she never has moved on from that relationship.”
Yoko and John got married in 1969 but had a brief separation in 1973. The couple had their son Sean in 1975. In the years since her husband’s death, Yoko attempted to date, briefly seeing interior designer Sam Havadtoy but they broke up in 2001, per People Magazine.
“The truth is, even when they were apart, they were always talking,” Sean noted to BBC Radio. “So I don’t think they ever really broke up. All his stuff was still in the apartment with my mom. It’s not like they had a real separation. I think it’s clear what his view of my mom was in his life. She was monumental, obviously, and the whole album is about her. She’s there in the studio… It sort of confirmed how deeply in love he was with my mom.”
“I think every relationship is very difficult, and I don’t believe that human beings have really solved the love equation,” Sean added. “So I think they did the best of anyone I can see.”
John’s time in the iconic ’60s rock band The Beatles notably overlapped with his relationship with Yoko. Rumors swirled throughout the decades that Yoko played a role in the band’s 1970 breakup. However, the 2021 Disney+ documentary about the band Get Back caused others to see Yoko differently. She has frequently spoken out about the sexism and racism that fueled this theory, telling Anderson Cooper in 2010 (via NBC News) that she had “been used as a scapegoat.”
On December 8, 1980, John’s sudden death shocked the world. The former member of The Beatles was shot and killed outside his New York apartment by Mark David Chapman. John’s murderer claimed that he was a Beatles fan looking for fame. “I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was evil,” Chapman told a parole board in September 2022, according to People. “I knew it was wrong, but I wanted the fame so much that I was willing to give everything and take a human life.”
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