A newly-uncovered open letter from John Lennon to his ex-wife Cynthia has shed light on their relationship, and the role that Yoko Ono played in their marriage falling apart, with Lennon adamant that Ono wasn’t to blame.
John and Cynthia married in 1962 but divorced in 1968 on the grounds that John had committed adultery with Ono, and Cynthia went on to claim as much in her first book. It was this book that prompted John to write this response, detailing his relationship with both women, as well as with LSD.
The short note was originally intended to be published in News of the World, which published excerpts of Cynthia’s book, Billboard reports, with Lennon writing to the editor that “I think it only fair to me and your readers to present my side of the story”.
It was never published, however, instead remaining hidden, and is now up for auction at an eye-watering price of £20,000 (or just under $33k AUD).
Your version of our first L.S.D. trip is rather vague, and you seem to have forgotten subsequent trips altogether!
“Dear Cynthia,” John begins. “As you and I well know, our marriage was over long before the advent of L.S.D. or Yoko Ono… and that’s reality!
“Your memory is impaired to say the least,” he continues, the letter tinged with his signature sarcasm. “Your version of our first L.S.D. trip is rather vague, and you seem to have forgotten subsequent trips altogether!”
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He then goes on to claim that, while he was in the middle of a split from Ono, Cynthia tried to reconcile the relationship.
“You even asked me to remarry you and/or give you another child, ‘for Julian’s sake’!” he adds. “I politely told you no, and that, anyway, I was still in love with Yoko, (which I thought was very ‘down to earth’).”
He also criticises Cynthia for simultaneously hoping to move on from her past with the Beatles star, while continuing to engage with the media and release books concerning their relationship.
You even asked me to remarry you and/or give you another child, ‘for Julian’s sake’!
“I don’t blame you for wanting to get away from your ‘Beatle’ past,” he writes, “but if you are serious about it, you should try to avoid talking to and posing for magazines and newspapers!”
“We did have some good years, so dwell on them for a change, and, Dylan says, it was ‘A Simple Twist of Fate!'” the note concludes, John signing off with “Love & good luck to the three of you, from the three of us.”
It’s a fascinating insight into several relationships that would, in more modern times, be torn to pieces on social media even more fiercely than they were in the tabloids of the ’60s and ’70s. In fact, this would have been a serious of hastily-deleted Tweets, rather than time capsule into the life of one of the most prominent musicians of all time.
You can read the entire note below, or get your wallet out and be prepared to shell out a ridiculous sum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10UCIWFe4DM
John’s letter to Cynthia
“As you and I well know, our marriage was over long before the advent of L.S.D. or Yoko Ono … and that’s reality!
“Your memory is impaired to say the least.
“Your version of our first L.S.D. trip is rather vague, and you seem to have forgotten subsequent trips altogether!
“You also seem to have forgotten that only two years ago, while I was separated from Yoko, you suddenly brought Julian to see me in Los Angeles after three years of silence.
“During this visit, you hardly allowed me to be alone with him for one moment.
“You even asked me to remarry you and/or give you another child, ‘for Julian’s sake’!
“I politely told you no, and that, anyway, I was still in love with Yoko, (which I thought was very ‘down to earth’).
“There were no detectives sent to Italy. Our mutual friend Alex Mardas went to Bassanini’s Hotel to see how you were, as you said you were too ill to come home…
“Finally, I don’t blame you for wanting to get away from your ‘Beatle’ past.
“But if you are serious about it, you should try to avoid talking to and posing for magazines and newspapers!
“We did have some good years, so dwell on them for a change, and, as Dylan says, it was ‘A Simple Twist of Fate!’
“Love & good luck to the three of you, from the three of us.”
