John Lennon Was Furious at Wife Cynthia When She Blew the Secret That They Were Married
John Lennon denied the rumor that he was married for as long as he could. But one day, the paparazzi followed Cynthia Lennon to the store and hounded her about her marital status. Though she denied the rumor as well, the story that followed was the end of their marriage being a secret.
The British press found out where Cynthia lived and followed her
At the time, Cynthia and the baby were living with her mother in Hoylake. It didn’t take long for the adamant press to hunt down the Beatle’s wife’s location.
“Half a dozen of them actually slept in a car in front of the house, waiting for Cynthia to emerge,” reads The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of The Beatles by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines. “She waited nearly a week before she ventured outside, when she wheeled Julian to the greengrocer in his carriage. She was secretly photographed by hidden photographers with telephoto lenses.”
Inside the grocery store, she was approached by two reporters who demanded to know if she was married to John. Worried that she would be the cause of her husband’s secret getting out, she lied and said she was her own twin sister. A nearby grocer tried to corroborate Cynthia’s story, but the reporters didn’t buy it.
John was furious
The next morning, on the front page, were several photos of Cynthia pushing Julian in his stroller.
“John was furious,” reads TLYM. “He viewed the revelation of his marriage as a tribe personal embarrassment.”
“Walking about married,” John scoffed, “It was like walking about with odd socks on, your fly open.”
“Mostly, John was just worried that the girls would stop chasing him,” reads TLYM. “They didn’t.”
It was the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, who convinced John to “not be too hard on” the mother of his child for bringing to light the secret of their marriage. It was Brian’s opinion that since the secret was out, they should all make the best of it. A married Beatle with a sweet baby son fit the group’s wholesome image, so long as no newspaper pointed out that Cynthia was pregnant before she and John got married.
John and Cynthia moved to London together
Around this time, it was decided that the Beatles ought to relocate to London, where all the action was. So John, along with Cynthia and the baby, set out to pick out a flat in the city. The first people Cynthia met in London were the Beatles’ photographer, Bob Freeman, and his wife. They mentioned that a flat was opening up in their building. Not knowing anyone else in the city, Cynthia felt it was important to live by their new friends. So John rented the flat sight unseen.
But when they saw the drab quarters, Cynthia was filled with regret.
“The gloomy flat was in a run-down Georgian building situated just across the street from a large student hostel,” reads TLYM. “The view from the apartment windows was of dingy rooftops and the West London Airlines Terminal.”
It wasn’t long before Beatles fans learned of the couple’s new address. The building was constantly surrounded by fans.
“Cynthia was accosted daily on the front steps of the building or faced with the constant indignity of signs hung out of the hostel windows, welcoming her husband home or bidding him goodbye in the morning,” reads TLYM. “She began to resent the fans, and her isolation in the big city increased.”
One night, while John was away, the airlines terminal building burned down. Cynthia stood at the window with her son in her arms watching the flames. Both she and Julian cried.
