The Beatles: May Pang Was Lucky to Become John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Assistant: ‘Get Your A** Upstairs’
It says something about The Beatles that we’re fascinated by their story decades after they broke up. Fans still want to learn more about the Fab Four, including John Lennon, who founded the band that became The Beatles. He might have hated some of the band’s songs, but music fans love hearing about John’s life. They can learn more with May Pang’s movie The Lost Weekend: A Love Story. Pang was lucky to become John’s assistant before she was his lover, and her documentary film reveals her side of the story of her relationship with the Beatles’ founder.
May Pang had a relationship with John Lennon during his Lost Weekend phase
John married Yoko in March 1969, but the union experienced some friction in 1973. The couple argued. Yoko felt they were growing apart, and she encouraged their assistant, May Pang, to date John if he should ask. He did.
While he was apart from his wife, John and Pang spent 18 months as a couple. She lived with him in New York and Los Angeles during John’s Lost Weekend phase (aka his estrangement from Yoko). Photos from the era show John and Pang hitting clubs, hanging out with other famous musicians (such as Harry Nilsson, Alice Cooper, and Mick Jagger), and living life as a full-fledged couple, which they were.
Pang spent days and nights with John for close to two years, but she was lucky to even become his assistant in the first place.
Pang was lucky to become John and Yoko Ono’s assistant to begin with
Pang was in her early 20s when she started her relationship with John. That only happened because she was close to John and Yoko, and that only happened because she was lucky enough to become their assistant.
It was a right place, right time situation.
Pang strolled into Apple Records’ New York headquarters in the last 1960s, asking if The Beatles ever showed up there. The office manager said no, but gave her a job as an assistant. When John and Yoko sold their house in England and relocated to New York in 1971, they needed an assistant. Pang was right there when the request came in, per the New York Post:
“Apple’s VP said to me, ‘Get your a** upstairs and see what they need.’”
That simple request landed her the assistant job, which later morphed into an 18-month relationship with John before he went back to Yoko.
Pang’s movie ‘The Lost Weekend: A Love Story’ reveals her side of the story
From the outside, John’s Lost Weekend appeared to be a hedonistic blip during his marriage to Yoko. With her movie, Pang reveals her viewpoint — that she and John shared a genuine, close, and loving relationship.
The movie, which debuted at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, sees John reconnect with his oldest son, Julian. The son moved into the New York City penthouse John and Pang shared. Pang details stories of living with The Beatles’ legend during a period where he collaborated with artists such as Elton John, David Bowie, and Harry Nilsson.
It was a lucky coincidence that May Pang became John Lennon’s assistant and lover. With The Lost Weekend: A Love Story (which hits theaters April 13, 2023), we get an inside look at one of the most fascinating periods in John’s post-Fab Four history.
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