The Beatles Star John Lennon's Family Guide: Meet His Two Sons
As a teammate Paul McCartney later, The Beatles This is John Lennon's place short life was full of sorrow.
He grew up in a chaotic family that fluctuates behind his father Alfred he left when he was young with his mother Julia leave her sister alone Mary “Mimi” Smith raised him, John's family life did not go well.
As an adult John adopted two sons, Julian Lennon,61, and Sean Ono Lennon, 49, – and was a very different father to each other before his sudden death at the age of 40 in December 1980.
These days, the brothers “face their demons together,” according to Julian in an interview Esquire in 2021.
“It's funny because there was always, especially in the UK press, 'Lennon Sons Feuding,' this, that. We have never fought in our life. Such a bull,” he said.
Scroll through to find out more about important family members throughout John's life.
Julian Lennon
John's entry into fatherhood started a controversy where he and his girlfriend Cynthia Powell found out they were expecting a baby after they failed to use contraception.
When John (then 21) found out that Cynthia (then 22) was pregnant, he decided to get married – and the two tied the knot in 1962. Their son Julian was born in April 1963 but John missed the birth due to his commitments with The Beatles.
While John was there for the first few years of Julian's life, he eventually left Cynthia Yoko Ono and had a strained relationship with Julian for most of his life.
Julian later reflected on his treacherous relationship with John in an interview with him The guard in 2020.
“Then suddenly my father literally disappeared from the world. At least, that's how it seemed to me. He and Yoko Ono were deeply and publicly in love. And I felt like my mother and I were abandoned,” he said. “Perhaps 10 years have passed since my father and I have not spoken to each other. I was very upset by the way he left the family. It was thanks to my mother that we started having conversations again. He was a gentle soul, never taking revenge in any way, shape or form. He always wanted me to have a relationship with him.”
Julian, who is the mastermind behind it Paul McCartney's The song “Hey Jude,” written for him after John and Cynthia's divorce, also shared that he was finally reunited with his father before his death.
“I was scared the first time I visited him in the US after my parents' divorce. I started to see the greatness of this man,” he said The guard. “What made me very happy was that the visit was a success. My father was charming and funny and warm. From that trip onwards, I remember we got along better.”
Sean Ono Lennon
In stark contrast to his parenting style with Julian, John was a hands-on father the second time around.
John welcomed his youngest son Sean into the world in October 1975 with second wife Yoko, and took a break from music to become a house husband.
In interview no Playboy which took place in September, 1980, and was published in January, 1981, John shared how well he handled the role.
“I was baking bread and taking care of the baby … because bread and children, as every housewife knows, is a full-time job,” she told the magazine at the time.
Tragically, John was shot and killed in December 1980, when Sean was only five years old.
Talking to Rolling Stone in 2020, Sean reflected on how his father's death affected him and explained that he still has memories of his father while he was alive.
“Most people don't remember when they were five years old,” he said during an interview. “I have never asked a psychologist, but I have thought that because my father's death was so devastating to me that many of those ancient memories just stayed. I have more memories of being five and four than I did when I was 16.”
Julia and Alfred Lennon
John's parents Julia again Alfred Lennon they first met when they were teenagers and secretly married ten years later in 1938. John was born in 1940 but his parents did not raise him – Julia let his sister. Mary “Mimi” Smith to raise his son.
Fellow Beatle, McCartney, spoke about John's troubled upbringing at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.
“When he was a child, his mother was deemed unfit to raise him… His father had left home when John was 3 years old. So that's not good,” recalls McCartney, 82. “It made me realize why he gets into trouble. I always liked the way he dealt with it because I'm not sure I'll deal with what he went through.”
Julia was tragically killed after being hit by a car at the age of 44 in 1958. John was just twelve at the time.
“That was another big trauma for me. I lost twice. I lived with my aunt when I was five years old, and when she died physically,” he said Playboy in 1980. “That made me bitter; the chip on my shoulder that I had as a teenager became really big then. I was starting a new relationship with him when he was killed.”
John and Alfred were separated for most of their lives but were reunited at Alfred's bedside in 1976.
Me Smith
John was raised by his aunt, Mimi and her husband George Smith. Mimi and John remained close throughout his life. After his success with The Beatles, John bought Mimi in Dorset, UK where he lived until his death in 1991.
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