John Lennon’s Ex-Wife Said He Had a Need to ‘Shock and Disgust’ People
When John Lennon began dating his ex-wife, Cynthia, the pair seemed slightly mismatched. She had a reputation for being extremely kind and warm; Lennon did not. Their classmates said that he was lucky to date someone like Cynthia. When they were together, though, some of his behavior was abhorrent to her. She said that he seemed to have a need to shock people.
John Lennon’s ex-wife had a reputation for being very kind
Lennon and Cynthia met at the Liverpool College of Art in 1957. She was in a relationship when they first met, but Lennon charmed her. Eventually, they began dating, and a classmate said he was lucky to be in a relationship with her.
“Cynthia was a catch for John,” classmate Ann Mason said, per the book John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman. “She could have had anyone she wanted. She had lovely eyes and the most beautiful pale skin. And she was the sweetest, nicest person you could ever meet.”
The couple married in 1962 when Cynthia discovered that she was pregnant.
John Lennon’s ex-wife said he had a need to shock
Lennon’s first girlfriend, Thelma Pickles, said he could be difficult to be around.
“He could be very unbearable at times,” she said. “He was never violent … but he would say things to hurt you. I think it was a defense thing, because he could be vulnerable at times [like] when you talked about his mother.”
Cynthia had a similar experience. Lennon had a cruel tendency to mock people with disabilities, often even to their faces. Cynthia believed that he had a need to shock people, and she was often left feeling stunned and upset by his behavior.
“John had a great need to shock and disgust people, and certainly shocked me on these occasions,” she said. “Of course when his mates were around, he was the star turn.”
The couple divorced in 1968
Still, Cynthia remained with Lennon until 1968. They shared one son, Julian, together, and they weathered the early storm of Beatlemania as a family.
“We saw very little of him,” Cynthia told NPR. “And when he did come home, he was so exhausted and so tired and so overwhelmed by the pressures of the outside world that … all he wanted to do was to collapse.”
Eventually, he began an affair with Yoko Ono and asked Cynthia for a divorce. She was hurt, but she still cared for Lennon.
“[After the divorce] I didn’t [stop] loving him or caring for him or worrying about him, I mean, because I didn’t have any anger or bitterness about it,” she said. “I had a lot of hurt. But, of course, I was looking after his interests, in my own little way, and caring about his future and hoping that he was happy, because he’d had to go through such hell to do what he did.”
