John Lennon Struggled to Balance Work and Family According to His Son Julian
He was a songwriter, vocalist, husband, and father. John Lennon had a son with Cynthia Lennon before divorcing his first wife for Yoko Ono. In 2005, Julian Lennon commented on his father’s relationship with their family and how he found it “very hard” to show “any peace and love” to them.
John Lennon was married to Cynthia Lennon and had a son — Julian Lennon
Aside from being a Beatle, John Lennon was a husband to Cynthia Lennon and a father to Julian Lennon. John and Cynthia were first married in 1962 amidst the rock band’s climbing fame. The couple had Julian Lennon in 1963, with Julian and Cynthia later commenting on their relationship with the Lennon legacy.
Julian Lennon commented on John Lennon’s love for his first family
In 2005, Cynthia Lennon released an autobiography, John, detailing her experience adjacent to The Beatles. The visual artist said she waited to share her story, turning down interviews and business opportunities after her ex-husband’s death.
The book’s foreword was written by Julian Lennon — John’s first son. In it, he discussed his relationship with the Lennon legacy, sharing that he had “mixed feelings” when people told him they loved his father.
“Dad was a great talent, a remarkable man who stood for peace and love in the world,” Lennon wrote. “But at the same time, he found it very hard to show any peace and love to his first family — my mother and me.”
After meeting Yoko Ono at an art exhibit, the two began their whirlwind romance. As a result, Lennon officially divorced Cynthia Lennon in 1968 and married his second wife in 1969.
“In many accounts of Dad’s life, Mum and I are either dismissed or at best treated as insignificant bit players, which is sadly something that continues to this day,” he continued. “Yet Mum was his first real love and she was with him for half his adult life, from art college to the genesis of the Beatles to their overwhelming worldwide success.”
John Lennon said Yoko Ono ‘saved’ him from his previous marriage with Cynthia Lennon
In Skywriting by Word of Mouth, Lennon detailed his decision to leave his first wive, writing that although he “had numerous interesting ‘affairs’ in my previous incarnation, I’d never met anyone worth breaking up a happily-married state of boredom for.”
“Yoko, although shy herself, picked up my spirits enough to give me the courage to get the hell out,” he continued, “just in time for me to avoid having to live with my ex-wife’s new nose. She also had had side-interests, much to the surprise of my pre-liberated male ego.”
Shortly after they were married, the couple appeared in their honeymoon “bed-ins” for peace, later releasing music together. Lennon was still married to Yoko Ono when he was shot and killed in 1980.
