“Cynthia Lennon passed away today at her home in Mallorca, Spain,” read a statement from a representative for Julian Lennon, John and Cynthia’s only son. “Her son Julian Lennon was at her bedside throughout. The family are thankful for your prayers. Please respect their privacy at this difficult time.”
Cynthia met the rebellious, soon-to-be Beatle in the early 1960s, when both were attending art school. The couple married in 1962 after she became pregnant, but the marriage only lasted six years, abruptly ending when John met Japanese artist Yoko Ono.
In an interview last year, Julian described how his mother single-handedly raised him while his famous father toured the world with the biggest band of that era.
“Anyone must remember that dad left when I was 3 years old,” said Julian. “Mom and I lived out of the limelight. We lived a totally different life.”
Julian later followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a successful musician in his own right, earning a Grammy nomination in 1985 for his debut album Valotte.
Hunter Davies, the author of the Beatles’ only official biography, described Cynthia as a “lovely woman.”
“She was totally different from John in that she was quiet, reserved and calm,” said Davis, who refers to John and Cynthia’s marriage as an “attraction of opposites.”
According to Davis, as well as many other sources, John was also sometimes abusive, both verbally and physically.
“John treated her appallingly,” said Davis. “He slept with Yoko in their marital home and, as we discovered later, he also physically attacked her but she was loyal to him.”
Following her divorce from John, Cynthia had a string of failed marriages before ultimately meeting Barbadian club owner, Noel Charles, who passed away in 2013. Later in life, she tried a few of her own business ventures including a line of perfume, a Beatles-themed restaurant, and recording a cover of Mary Hopkin’s “Those Were the Days,” but all met with little to no success.
As an author, she famously penned “A Twist of Lennon,” in 1978, which generated great interest after her ex-husband’s death in 1980, and 2005’s “John,” which purported to tell the “whole truth,” as she claimed some of the darker secrets of their doomed marriage were kept under wraps in her previous volume.
Julian Lennon commemorated his mother on his website with a video of a song he wrote with photos of Cynthia over the years. In the song, he says “you gave your life for love/ I know you’re safe above.”
