More @ She Loves You

Cynthia Powell was born September 10, 1939 in Blackpool, England (the Powell family moved to Hoylake shortly after). The future wife of John Lennon was definitely a product of her environment, having a very posh English accent and dressed in clothes reminiscent of what Americans were wearing in the 1950s. In other words, she was very proper. Her family were “very placid, quiet people," according to Powell.

Powell was always good in school, but teachers noted that Powell did not have much self-confidence. Her confidence, coupled with her emotional stability, suffered when her father, Charles, died of cancer when she was only seventeen. She was the opposite of her mother, Lilian, who was very strong-willed and determined person--particularly after the death of Charles Powell.

Powell first met John Lennon in a lettering class they shared together at the school. This class was Lennon’s last chance to stay in school, since he was kicked out of his painting class. The future rocker definitely stood out in the class, the rest of the students were girls like Powell.

At first, Powell was frightened of Lennon. However, the two were soon talking about their shortsightedness and it became apparent that she liked Lennon. Powell would send him chocolate biscuits and coffee to try to get his attention. One night, Lennon asked her to dance and she refused, saying she was engaged to someone else, to which he reply, “I didn’t ask you to marry me!” After that embarrassing moment for Powell, they went to a pub, and began dating soon after.

The future Mrs. Lennon first had to change her appearance to suit John. All of the Beatles believed French actress Brigitte Bardot was the ideal woman (also one of the reasons why George Harrison was attracted to Pattie Boyd, who resembled the star).

The intensity of Cynthia and John's relationship was not known by many, including Lilian Powell and Lennon's aunt, Mimi. They would lie to them in order to spend time at Stuart Sutcliffe's (a friend of John Lennon and later bandmate) flat. Even at this time, there were problems in the relationship. Lennon had a very jealous streak and would constantly guard Powell from others. Separations in Hamburg, where the Beatles performed, kept testing their relationship. John would write love letters to Cynthia constantly while he was away in Hamburg and she would visit him, usually with Dot Rhone (at the time Paul McCartney's girlfriend).

When Powell told Lennon that she was pregnant with his child, the "right thing to do", according to Brian Epstein, was to marry her. The pregnancy was not expected; Powell planned on getting her qualification as an art teacher. Cynthia later recalled:

"(Being certified as an art teacher) would have enabled me to support John whatever happened, because his life at that time was music and I couldn't see his future in it....I thought, 'I love him. Whatever happens, if he can't make money, I'll be there and I'll have my art teacher's diploma and I'll be able to teach."

On August 23, 1962, the day after Cynthia told John she was pregnant, the couple was married. Beatles George Harrison and Paul McCartney were in attendance, as were Cynthia's brother and sister-in-law, Tony and Margery Powell. Cynthia wore an outfit (a purple and black check two-piece suit) provided by her good friend Astrid Kirchherr, since they were low on money. Said Cynthia:

"One thing's for sure, I didn't marry John for his money. He didn't have any, I didn't appreciate it and it's never done me any good....I was funding him every day at college. So if money was important to me I'd chosen a rich boyfriend."

***

As Cynthia struggled with a very difficult pregnancy, The Beatles were becoming fast rising stars in England. On April 6, 1963, Cynthia went into labor, and on April 8, 1963, John Charles Julian Lennon was born. Julian, as he was called, was immediately taken to intensive care, where he stayed for two days. She later recalled:

"I was something like three days in the hospital before Julian arrived and then he had jaundice, the umbilical cord was around his neck, and he had a very large mole on his head. He had to be left alone for twenty-four hours; I couldn't touch him."

A week later, John came to visit his newborn son. Lennon’s excitement over his son was cut short by women looking into the window to watch the singer. He abruptly told his wife he’d be going on holiday with Brian Epstein. She was angry that he was leaving but remained silent.

Things didn’t change much for the rest of the year. The Beatles were getting more famous each day, only a year away from worldwide Beatlemania. Lennon barely saw his wife or son, and didn’t make an attempt to either. Powell was living with her son and mother in Hoylake, far from Lennon’s happiness in London. At Brian Epstein’s insistence, Cynthia was not known by the press as John Lennon’s wife. After all, according to Epstein, it would hurt their fan base.

As hard as they tried to keep the secret however, the press found out about Cynthia. John denied the story, but the press knew better and asked around. They soon surrounded the house Cynthia lived in, and the press got a picture of her and Julian in a grocery store. The next day it was flashed on the tabloids’ covers. Cynthia finally went public: she was indeed Mrs. John Lennon, Julian was their son, and that they were married for 18 months. Cynthia did lie about Julian's birthday, so much so that she almost forgot his real birth date. She had to lie because if she didn't, it would prove that Cynthia was pregnant before she was married. This would have been a scandal at that time, and particularly devastating to the Beatles’ image as "clean-cut lads from Liverpool".

Cynthia Lennon made her first public appearance with the Beatles on their first tour to America. The Beatles' performance on the Ed Sullivan Show led the group to such huge successes that John was unable to stay at home.The only time Cynthia Lennon did see her husband was on the rare occasions he was home, or on vacations with the other Beatles (Ireland, 1964 for example).

After the Beatles' hectic touring ended in 1966, John returned to his home, Kenwood. He would stay in a back room of the house, taking drugs, having people coming in, or reading and composing songs. He completely isolated himself from the outside world; the fame had begun to take its toll on him. Cynthia watched as her marriage came falling apart. There was nothing she could do to save the marriage, and it was only getting worse because of drugs.

John’s first experience with LSD came in 1964, when Cynthia, George Harrison, Pattie Boyd, and himself were going to a party at their dentist’s house. The dentist had calmly told them ,after forcing them to finish every last drop of their tea, that it was spiked with LSD. He told them to stay calm, because they were in no condition to leave his home. Lennon, fearing the worst, hurried everyone out. They spent time running away from the dentist, who was chasing them, and finally retired back to the Lennon’s home. Cynthia was probably having the worst time with the drug, even though they were all in pretty bad shape. But Cynthia could tell after the trip that Lennon found a drug that would be a constant part of his life. Cynthia, not wanting to be a part of this, knew it was what separated her from her husband and her friends who were taking LSD.

Yoko Ono came into the Lennons’ life in late 1966. Ono, already trying to get herself into Lennon’s life, was one to be quick about it. Cynthia’s mother, living at the house to take care of Julian, once took Ono into the house so she could call a cab because she would stay around there in awful weather. Ono would also send notes like, “If you don’t support me, I’ll kill myself!”.

Powell was very much aware of Ono’s presence in Lennon’s life and would often question if she was the woman he loved. Repeatedly Lennon denied it. However, when the Lennons and the rest of the Beatles’ entourage went to India, Ono had already made an impact on John. He realized he really did love her.

On the way back to London after their trip to India, Lennon confessed to Powell all the women he had affairs with. What made it worse was that he concentrated on women his wife personally knew, not just the countless groupies from tours past.

Powell was shocked and hurt. She had no idea about any of this, although there were many signs. (She later remarked in 1995 that it was better that she was naive during this time.)

Magic Alex and Jenny Boyd (Pattie’s sister), knowing about the Lennons’ problems, took Powell away from England.

Cynthia returned back to Kenwood some time later, still accompanied by Magic Alex and Jenny Boyd. The house was silent, but the door was unlocked, so Powell figured someone would be home. She called out, saying she returned. She walked into the sun-room of their house, and in her own bathrobe, was Yoko Ono sitting next to Lennon. Powell could only think of "something mindless to say".

She recalled:

“I was absolutely shattered....I felt I had to get out of there immediately.”

So she left with Boyd and Magic Alex to a house in Central London that the couple had shared with some friends.During that time, Cynthia needed someone to talk to. She choose Magic Alex, although she never trusted him. Their wine consumption and Cynthia's loneliness led her to tell Alex all of her and John's problems during their marriage.

Three days later, Cynthia phoned home to say she was returning. When she returned, Ono was gone, and John said, “I can’t understand why you went off, what have you been up to?” Cynthia questioned what he was up to with Ono, to which he claimed their relationship was purely intellectual. Cynthia was not convinced. She knew something was indeed happening between the two of them; Lennon had a hard time facing up to it. The planned family holiday went as planned; Cynthia did not want to disappoint Julian (who, at this point, had no clue what was happening).

While Cynthia and Julian went on the family holiday, Lennon and Ono went to public events together. On the second of these occasions (the premiere of a play based on his own books), the press took notice. Shouts of “Where’s Cynthia?” “Who is that woman?” came out from their mouths. John, completely frustrated that he wasn't free to be with Ono, retorted "I don't know!"

Cynthia, while in Italy, met up with Roberto Bassinini, whom she had met previously. They dined that night, and when they returned to where Cynthia was staying, Magic Alex was awaiting them. He informed her that Lennon would sue for divorce on the grounds of adultery with Bassanini so he could marry Ono. With this agreement, Lennon would have full custody of Julian. Cynthia would be sent back to Hoylake. Cynthia, Julian, and Lilian Powell were on the next plane to England to sort things out.

When Cynthia returned to England, she was immediately served divorce papers from John. Before signing, she immediately decided to call Apple to speak with her husband, but to no avail. So she went straight to Kenwood, their home. Cynthia Lennon was greeted by John and Yoko. She was not about to be called the adulteress, the one whom stood faithful by her husband through the turbulent years of Beatlemania. Lennon claimed she was to blame for he couldn’t hurt his public image.

The next time Cynthia and John met was with her lawyers to settle their divorce. Cynthia could do nothing but watch herself get sued by John. They settled on £75,000, John claiming she did absolutely nothing for him, and that he was being more than generous. However, in September, Yoko Ono became pregnant, so Cynthia was able to sue John on the grounds of adultery. She received £100,000 plus £2,400 for child support. The divorce was finalized November 8, 1968.

Cynthia was immediately cut off from anyone associated with the Beatles. Peter Brown, who worked for The Beatles, was quoted as saying:

“Cynthia was amputated from the Beatles with ruthless speed and precision. Few Beatles’ employees or friends dared to show her support or speak out against Yoko, lest the wrath of Lennon fall on them.”

It was quite a shock, then, when Cynthia got a visit from Paul McCartney. With Yoko Ono in the picture, John Lennon and McCartney’s relationship was quickly deteriorating. He arrived with a rose for her and jokingly said, “Well, how about it Cyn? How about you and me get married?”. Powell was shocked. She never really considered McCartney a good friend, yet he was the only one who was nice to her. He also came with a song, “Hey Jude”, written for Julian Lennon.

While Lennon and Ono were having bed-ins for peace, Cynthia returned to Roberto Bassinini. Bassinini and Cynthia were married August 1, 1970 in England. Julian Lennon later recalled these years:

"(Roberto Bassinini) was great fun to be with. I lived an ideal life between them and John and Yoko."

Cynthia and Roberto divorced in 1974. Lennon remarried in 1978 to John Twist, an electrician. The couple, along with Julian (who wasn't very fond of Twist), move to North Wales and open up a bistro. That same year Powell published A Twist of Lennon, one of the first in many tell-all books rock wives and girlfriends have since published. The autobiography, currently out-of-print, was serialized in the British tabloid News Of The World. The book's title was a play on words of the saying "a twist of lemon". However, the "twist" in Cynthia's life soon left; the couple's bistro went out of business and they divorced.

During her second and third marriages, Cynthia Lennon made sure her son Julian saw his father. They arranged several trips, including one to Disneyland. John Lennon had handled the pressures of fame with drugs, and during that time he couldn't be concerned with Julian, but he realized that he needed to be a father. Julian and John became closer before Lennon's murder. His sudden death was "like losing a father for a second time," Julian was quoted as saying.

With all the problems never resolving themselves due to Lennon's untimely death, Powell’s relationship with her son became stronger. Julian Lennon helped his mother in return. After three failed marriages, Cynthia was still by herself. That was until Julian had met a man named Jim Christie, who was teaching him how to ride motorbikes. Cynthia became friendly with Jim because of his association with Julian, and by 1982 they were living together. Having a new man in her life, Cynthia was also able to settle into a permanent home. According to Cynthia, after her divorce with Lennon, she moved “every three years”, but has stayed in permanent residence for 12 years. Christie and Powell split recently.

Although she remained a quiet figure during the Beatlemania that was the 1960's, Cynthia Lennon has also been a point of conflict for many. She has sold her story, made appearances at Beatle celebrations, opened a restaurant called Lennon's (in 1989) and has auctioned off her own personal items from her years with John. Cynthia Lennon supports that she must do this to make a living. She has no constant salary of sorts, despite the fact that son Julian won a lawsuit to have part of the John Lennon estate. (His current worth was estimated by Q magazine at 20 million pounds, roughly 35 million U.S. dollars).

Cynthia Lennon is a new relationship; she lives Normandy, France with Noel Charles, a former nightclub owner. Now supporting herself on her artwork, Lennon most recently put out a collection of paintings she did about the Beatles. Said Lennon:

 

Over the past few years my son has become an avid collector of his father's memorabilia. So it made sense for me to paint these images of John as a gift for Julian. In a strange way I found the whole process therapeutic, uplifting and just a little spooky as the memories came to life through these paintings.

In her continued involvement with The Beatles, as well as maintaining a private profile, she reflected on her life in a 1996 interview:

Webmaster note: The Cynthia Lennon biography has been written with information sources such as The Beatles' authorized biography, Cynthia Lennon's autobiography, press interviews and unauthorized Beatles and Beatle-related books.