History tends to forget unjustly that John Lennon had another woman before Yoko Ono: a British artist and author, and the first wife of John Lennon was Cynthia Powell, then Cynthia Lennon. Powell and Lennon started a relationship while attending Liverpool College of Art.
They began dating in the autumn of 1958 and had a tumultuous relationship for two years. John Lennon admitted one day, “I was in sort of a blind rage for two years. I was either drunk or fighting. It had been the same with other girlfriends I’d had. There was something the matter with me.“
By 1962, almost four years into their relationship and before Beatlemania took off, the couple became pregnant while the Beatles were still performing in Hamburg. The celebrated fanaticism surrounding the Beatles would only start a few months later.
Julian Charles John Lennon, born on April 8, 1963, was still in his mother’s womb when she married John Lennon in August 1962. Paul McCartney and George Harrison were in attendance, and their manager, Brian Epstein, was the best man.
The Divorce of John Lennon and Cynthia Powell Lennon in 1968
The couple, now a trio, lived together until 1968, when John Lennon and Cynthia would divorce. The reason? John Lennon had an affair with Yoko Ono! Yes, the Japanese woman didn’t just put an end to the greatest band of all time.
When John Lennon met Yoko Ono in 1966, he fell madly in love with her and was still married to Cynthia for two more years. After leaving his then-wife Cynthia and after a period of dating, he married Yoko in early 1969. By their divorce in 1968, John gave his ex-wife, Cynthia, only a divorce settlement, far from wealthy, although he knew Cynthia would have to support and raise her son Julian, who was just five years old.
The Love Letter Paul McCartney Bought
Cynthia has worked as a restaurateur, bed-and-breakfast owner, and TV personality to manage her responsibilities. After a few years, Cynthia would soon find herself nearly broke; she knew she had to save some money so that she and Julian could live a decent life. Feeling desperate, she sold her old drawings and Lennon’s love letters. Many of these letters were from the time of the Beatles’ first residency in Hamburg around 1960 and from a year later during the band’s second visit to Hamburg, where Cynthia would end up visiting Lennon for a few weeks.
Famously, Paul McCartney once bought one of those love letters, framed it, and sent it to her and Julian as a gift. Cynthia told the story in her 2005 memoir, “John”:
“When John and I had divorced, I sold this letter, along with several others John wrote. I was touched and delighted when, some years afterwards, the owner put it up for sale again and Paul McCartney bought it. He had it framed and presented it to me and Julian as a gift.“
John Lennon wrote the letter on 23 August 1965, during the Beatles’ American tour. He wrote it primarily about missing his and Cynthia Lennon’s son Julian, then aged 2 years old. Cynthia Lennon included an extended snippet of the letter in her memoir “John,” the same book in which she recounted McCartney’s generous act for the first time:
“I spend hours in dressing rooms and things thinking about the times I’ve wasted not being with [Julian] — and playing with him — you know I keep thinking of those stupid bastard times when I keep reading bloody newspapers and other s*** whilst he’s in the room with me and I’ve decided it’s ALL WRONG! He doesn’t see enough of me as it is and I really want him to know and love me, and miss me like I seem to be missing both of you so much.“
The Life of Cynthia Powell After John Lennon Break-up
After her divorce from John Lennon, Cynthia Powell remarried several times. In 1970, she married Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini, but after three years of marriage, they divorced in 1973.
She then married John Twist, a television engineer, in 1976. She published a memoir titled “A Twist of Lennon,” which became very popular after the John Lennon assassination in 1980. Two years later, and after 6 years together, Cynthia and John Twis divorced. After three failed marriages, Cynthia kept a romantic relationship that spans 17 years with Jim Christie, her partner and business manager. They separated in 1998.
Apart from her romantic life, Cynthia launched various business initiatives, such as a ‘Lennon’ restaurant and a perfume line. In her later years, Cynthia made public appearances and participated in conventions related to the Beatles. She married for the fourth time with Noel Charles from 2002 until he died in 2013. Cynthia died of cancer on April 1, 2015, in Majorca at the age of 75, with her son Julian Lennon by her side.
