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John LennonandYoko Onohave one of the most famous — and fruitful — love stories in pop culture history.
“When I fell in love with Yoko, I knew, my God, this is different from anything I’ve ever known,” Lennon once said. “This is more than a hit record, more than gold, more than everything.”
Lennon and Ono married in Gibraltar in 1969 and the Beatles announced their split the following year, prompting vicious speculation from the media and fans who blamed Ono for the rupture. “Our love helped us survive it, but some of it was pretty violent,” Lennon toldPlayboyin 1980.
In October 1975, the pair welcomed their first and only child together,Sean Taro. Five years later,Lennon was shot and killedwhile walking into their New York City apartment. In the decades since, Ono has continued touphold his legacy, accepting awards on his behalf at the Grammys and at his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Here’s a look back at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s relationship.
November 7, 1966: John Lennon and Yoko Ono first met in London
Yoko Ono and John Lennon.Susan Wood/Getty
After approaching her about the piece, the two had a playful back and forth. “And that’s when we really met,” Lennon told the outlet. “That’s when we locked eyes and she got it and I got it and, as they say in all the interviews we do, the rest is history.”
November 1968: John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia Lennon, divorce
Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, met in art school and had been married since 1962, when they tied the knot after learning that Cynthia was expecting. While their divorce is often attributed to Lennon’s affair with Ono, the songwriter later insisted in an open letter to Cynthia that things between them were over before the affair.
“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!” he wrote in a note dated Nov. 15, 1976, perBillboard.
November 11, 1968: John Lennon and Yoko Ono releaseTwo Virgins
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Lennon and Ono joined together for their first-ever musical collaboration,Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins, over the course of one weekend in spring 1968 at Lennon’s home in Kenwood, England — the same weekend Cynthia came home to discover Lennon’s affair, pertheGuardian.
“It was midnight when we finished, and then we made love at dawn. It was very beautiful,” Lennon once said, per his official website. The experimental album was released shortly after Lennon’s divorce was made official; its album art famously depicted the couple entirely naked.
March 20, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono get married in Gibraltar
Yoko Ono and John Lennon in 1969.Daily Herald/Daily Herald/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
The following year, they flew to Gibraltar, where they secretly tied the knot. “It was very romantic. It’s all in the song, ‘The Ballad of John and Yoko,’ if you want to know how it happened, it’s in there,” Lennon told author Jann Werner forLennon Remembers, perRolling Stone.
“Gibraltar was like a little sunny dream. I couldn’t find a white suit — I had sort of off-white corduroy trousers and a white jacket. Yoko had all white on.” Ono wore a miniskirt and Lennon smoked a cigarette during the short ceremony.
March 25, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their “bed-ins for peace”
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Two months later, as the Vietnam War continued, they held another weeklong bed-in in Montreal. During that protest, Lennon recorded one of the era’s defining songs, “Give Peace a Chance,” at theQueen ElizabethHotel.
August 1971: John Lennon and Yoko Ono move into an apartment in N.Y.C.
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After months of living at the St. Regis Hotel, the pair began renting a studio in N.Y.C.’s West Village at 105 Bank Street, perPBS. Describing their new neighborhood totheNew Yorker, Ono said, “It’s so good! It’s like a quaint little town.”
“We love it, and it’s the center of our world,” Lennon told the outlet of why they chose N.Y.C. “There’s an unbelievably creative atmosphere on this little island of Manhattan. Like they say, there just isn’t anything you can’t get in New York.”
The pair released the albumSome Time in New York Citywhile living in the apartment.
September 21, 1971: John Lennon denies rumors that Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles
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In an appearance onThe Dick Cavett Show, Lennon spoke out about moving on from the Beatles, stressing that he had always known he didn’t want to go on playing with them past their prime. “We don’t want to … be dragged onstage playing ‘She Loves You’ when we’ve got asthma and tuberculosis when we’re 50,” he told Cavett.
Lennon also touched on the negativity and racist remarks directed at Ono in the wake of the Beatles' split. He addressed the audience, jokingly saying, “If she took them apart, then can we please give her all the credit for all the nice music that George made and Ringo made and Paul made and I’ve made since they broke up.”
Ono added: “I think it’s very difficult for four artists who are so brilliant and talented to be together and do everything together. It’s just impossible. Whatever they were doing, it was almost miraculous that they were together.”
December 10, 1971: John Lennon and Yoko Ono perform at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally
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The pair performed at and hosted a number of benefit concerts over the years, including headlining the John Sinclair Freedom Rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The benefit concert, which was filmed for the documentaryTen for Two, was in response to activist and MC5 managerJohn Sinclair’s 10-year jail sentence, which he received for possessing two joints of marijuana. Among the other artists rallying for his release wereStevie Wonder,Bob Segerand Allen Ginsberg.
Sinclair was released three days after the concert, according toMichigan Today.
March 6, 1972: John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s battle against deportation begins
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June 12, 1972: John Lennon and Yoko Ono releaseSome Time in New York City
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November 1973: John Lennon and Yoko Ono separate
She asked him to leave the house, and Lennon began what fans refer to as his “Lost Weekend,” an 18-month period during which he began an affair with Pang and left N.Y.C. for Los Angeles.
November 1973: John Lennon begins an affair with his assistant, May Pang
“Yoko walked into my office and said, ‘John and I are not getting along. I want you to go out with him,’ " Pang recalled. She responded, " ‘Well are you kidding? I can’t do that, he’s my employer, he’s my boss. He’s your husband.’ "
The relationship ended in early 1975, when Ono decided to let Lennon come home. Pang recalled: “She told me, ‘I’m thinking of taking John back.’ And I said, ‘What?’ And she said, ‘I think it’s time.’ "
March 20, 1975: John Lennon and Yoko Ono renew their vows
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After the couple mended their relationship, they renewed their vows on their anniversary. That same month, they announced that they were expecting a child after a series of miscarriages and fertility difficulties.
October 9, 1975: John Lennon and Yoko Ono welcome their son Sean Lennon
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Sean Taro Ono Lennonwas born in N.Y.C. on Oct. 9, 1975, at 2:00 a.m. Sean shared a birthday with his father, who turned 35 the day Sean was born.
“I see a lot of John in Sean,” Ono told PEOPLE in 1982. “He’s quick and snappy.”
January 20, 1977: John Lennon and Yoko Ono attend President Jimmy Carter’s inaugural ball
Tom Wargacki/WireImage
Lennon and Ono were among the celebrity guests atPresident Jimmy Carter’s inaugural ball in 1977. As they began to focus more energy on activism and politics, they began opening up their social circles beyond the music and art worlds.
August 1980: John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin working on a new album
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After a six-year hiatus, the couple began recording at New York’s Hit Factory for the first time to begin a fresh collaboration.
November 17, 1980: John Lennon and Yoko Ono releaseDouble Fantasy
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“It’s a type of freesia,” he explained. “But what it means to us is that if two people picture the same image at the same time, that is the secret.”
December 1980: John Lennon opens up about the negative attention directed at Yoko Ono
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Lennon opened up about navigating the media’s scapegoating of Ono in a famous three-week interview withDavid SheffforPlayboyin August 1980.
Explaining that the pair of them were “sensitive people,” Lennon shared that the negative attention was hurtful and difficult for them to understand. “When you’re in love, when somebody says something like, ‘How can you be with that woman?’ you say, ‘What do you mean? I am with this goddess of love, the fulfillment of my whole life. Why are you saying this?’ " he said. “Our love helped us survive it, but some of it was pretty violent.”
December 8, 1980: John Lennon is shot and killed
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Lennon was shot and killed outside the Dakota, his N.Y.C. apartment building. He was 40 years old.
“The doctor came and handed me things. I still didn’t believe it. Then the doctor handed me John’s wedding ring, and I knew,” Ono told PEOPLE in 1990of processing Lennon’s death. “It was important that I give my permission to the hospital to announce John’s death. But I couldn’t bring myself to say yes right away. For that split second, I felt as though John would still be alive if his death was not announced.”
She added: “I still have dreams of John. His spirit is always with me.”
February 24, 1982: John Lennon and Yoko Ono win a Grammy Award
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty
Lennon won a posthumous Grammy with Ono for their albumDouble Fantasy, which took home Album of the Year at the1982 Grammys. A visibly emotional Ono took the stage along with their son Sean to accept the award on their behalf. They were met with a standing ovation.
Speaking through tears, she said, “I really don’t know what to say. I think John is with us here today. Thank you very much. Both John and I were always very proud and happy that we were part of the human race who made good music for the Earth and for the universe. Thank you.”
December 1990: Yoko Ono reflects on John Lennon’s death
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Ten years after his murder, Lennon’s loved ones celebrated his life.
“What I miss most about John is his incredible tenderness and his belief in me,” Ono told PEOPLE. “Love can sometimes be hell. You could abuse each other in the name of love. But the thing that worked in our relationship was that we never lost respect for each other and always made sure to express it. We loved each other like there was no tomorrow.”
She continued, “When you think of it now, there was something so intense about it, as if we knew we didn’t have much time.”
October 2015: Yoko Ono explains why she still lives in the house she shared with John Lennon
Brenda Chase/Newsmakers
In a rare interview with the Daily Beast, Ono opened up about continuing to live inthe Dakota, the N.Y.C. apartment building where she and Lennon shared a home and where Lennon was shot.
“Every day we shared each room,” she said. “The good memory supersedes the bad memory. The bad memory was just one that was terrible. But other than that, I felt we were still together.”
Ono also spoke candidly about Lennon’s killer,Mark David Chapman, and why she has repeatedly opposed his parole bids. “It’s very, very difficult for me to think about Chapman,” she said, adding that she worried that he would strike again if released from prison. “It could be me, it could be Sean, it could be anybody, so there is that concern.”
October 9, 2021: Yoko Ono wishes John Lennon a happy birthday
Yoko Ono/Twitter
On what would have been Lennon’s 81st birthday, Onoshared a tributeto her late husband — as well as to their son, Sean, who shares a birthday with the rock icon.
“Happy Birthday John! Happy Birthday Sean! I love you!” Ono wrote on Twitter, sharing a sweet photo of the father-son duo blowing out birthday candles together when Sean was young.
source: people.com
