Mick Jagger Saw John Lennon Be ‘so Nasty’ to His Wife Over a Board Game
As key members of two of the biggest bands of the 1960s, it’s hardly surprising that John Lennon and Mick Jagger spent time together. Despite rumors of a rivalry — and a history of trading insults — the two bands got along. Lennon and Jagger were friendly for years, going out together and visiting one another’s homes. During one visit, Jagger and his fiancée witnessed some very unpleasant behavior by Lennon.
Mick Jagger and his fiancée were surprised to see the way John Lennon treated his wife
In 1965, Jagger and his new fiancée, Chrissie Shrimpton, visited the home Lennon and his wife, Cynthia, shared. Problems plagued their marriage for years, and Lennon hardly bothered to hide this in front of guests. After the group watched Citizen Kane in the Lennons’ private theater, the Beatle suggested that they play Risk.
Cynthia was winning the game, and Lennon did not react well to this. Shrimpton noted how cruelly he treated her because she was ahead.
“Cynthia was winning, and John started getting so nasty that she just gave up the game and went to bed,” Shrimpton said in the book Mick Jagger by Philip Norman. “I remember thinking, ‘She’s so much under his thumb that she doesn’t even dare to win a silly game.'”
Mick Jagger spent a great deal of time with John Lennon and his girlfriend
Despite the discomfort of the night, Lennon and Jagger remained friends. They grew especially close in the early 1970s, during Lennon’s “lost weekend.” He and Yoko Ono had separated, and he was in a relationship with their assistant, May Pang. According to Pang, Jagger dropped by the apartment she shared with Lennon often.
“Mick’s visits were low-key, yet I still sensed an air of mischief about him,” Pang wrote in the book Loving John. “At a moment’s notice he was capable of surprise, and he and everyone else knew it.”
While he wasn’t necessarily a consistent presence in their lives, they always appreciated his visits.
“John and I affectionately nicknamed him ‘The Phantom,'” she wrote. “We never knew when he’d materialize, how long he would stay, when he’d call again, or what was really going on behind those devilish eyes and big pouting lips.”
John Lennon could be incredibly cruel to Cynthia Lennon
Lennon and Cynthia met at art school, long before The Beatles rose to prominence. In the early stages of their relationship, Lennon lashed out at her over jealousy.
When they discovered she was pregnant and got married, Lennon insisted that they keep their wedding and child a secret. The press inevitably found out about Cynthia, sparking Lennon’s fury. He saw his marriage as an embarrassment, something he spoke about publicly.
Paul McCartney recalled a moment toward the end of the couple’s relationship when he knew their marriage wouldn’t work. As The Beatles and their wives boarded a train to Wales for a meditation retreat, Lennon left Cynthia with their bags. She struggled to make it through the excited crowd and watched as the train carrying her husband pulled out without her.
Right before they separated, Lennon admitted to having cheated on her hundreds of times. Still, he insisted he loved her and wanted to make their marriage work. Soon after, though, Cynthia returned home to find Lennon and Ono wearing bathrobes in the kitchen. This was one of his final acts of cruelty toward her in their marriage. The couple divorced in 1968.
