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John Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia Lennon, described her life adjacent to the Beatles in her memoir. However, this experience also extended to other wives of the band members, with Cynthia Lennon sharing a close friendship with the self-described, ‘Beatles girls.” Here’s what we learned from John.

Who was John Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia Lennon?

Musician, singer and songwriter John Lennon (1940 - 1980) of British rock group the Beatles with his first wife Cynthia during the launch of his book 'In His Own Write'
John Lennon of the Beatles with his first wife Cynthia during the launch of his book ‘In His Own Write’ | Douglas Miller/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Around the same time John Lennon and Paul McCartney began writing music, the “Imagine” singer began his relationship with classmate Cynthia Lennon (then Cynthia Powell). After she became pregnant with her first son, Julian, the two got married. 

That made John Lennon the first Beatle to get married. Due to safety concerns, the Beatles’ wives were rarely seen in public alongside the band. Still, they formed a close friendship, according to Cynthia Lennon.

Cynthia Lennon formed a close friendship with the other Beatles members’ wives

George Harrison was the last Beatle to fall in love, doing so at 21 years old. He met Pattie Boyd while filming A Hard Day’s Night and married her shortly after. According to Cynthia Lennon, she was “friendly” and “easy to get on with,” similar to the “rest of us Beatles girls.”

“The two Liverpool girls, Maureen and I, and the two London girls, Jane and Patti, got on well from the beginning,” Lennon wrote in her memoir John. “We were all living through the same thing and it was wonderful to have friends to share it with.”

“All of the Beatles’ women got on with each other, but Maureen who was one of the most down-to-earth, honest people I ever knew, became my closest friend,” she added. 

The “Beatles girls” attended concerts and traveled together. Cynthia Lennon was even staying with Maureen Starkey, (Starr’s ex-wife,) the night John Lennon was shot. 

Related

Cynthia Lennon Said Mo Was ‘So Heartbroken’ to Split with the Beatles’ Drummer Ringo Starr

What happened to the other ‘Beatles girls’?

As the artists rose in stardom, some Beatles separated from their wives. After meeting and beginning his whirlwind romance with Yoko Ono, John Lennon divorced Cynthia Lennon in 1968. Months later, he was married to the artist/activist.  

Harrison and Pattie Boyd married in 1966. They divorced in 1977, with Boyd starting a relationship with Harrison’s friend Eric Clapton. Paul McCartney remained married to Linda McCartney until she died in 1998. 

Now, the songwriter is in a relationship with Nancy Shevell. Maureen Cox, also known as “​​Mo Starkey,” officially split from Ringo Starr, although she was “so heartbroken” at the divorce, according to Cynthia Lennon’s memoir. 

“When Mo and Ringo parted in 1974, she had been so heartbroken that she got on a motorbike and drove it straight into a brick wall, badly injuring herself,” Lennon wrote. “She had been in love with him since she was fifteen and his public appearances with his new girlfriend, American actress Nancy Andrews, had devastated her.”

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