Image Credit: Keystone / Getty Images
Yoko Ono has spoken about John Lennon’s curiosity regarding his own sexuality, claiming that the ex-Beatle thought that everyone was bisexual, and that he “had a desire to sleep with men.”
In an interview with the Daily Beast to mark what would have been Lennon’s 75th birthday, Ono said: “John and I had a big talk about [sexuality], saying, basically, all of us must be bisexual. And we were sort of in a situation of thinking that we’re not [bisexual] because of society. So we are hiding the other side of ourselves, which is less acceptable.”
As The Beatles were rising in popularity they hired the openly gay Brian Epstein to be their manager, who Lennon took a trip to Spain with just weeks following the birth of his first son, Julian. This led many rumours to circulate regarding Lennon potentially being in a relationship with Epstein, with Lennon himself saying that the pair had an “intense relationship” but that it was “never consummated.”
Speaking of the rumours, Ono said: “Uh, well, the story I was told was a very explicit story, and from that I think they didn’t have it [sex]. But they went to Spain, and when they came back, tons of reporters were asking, ‘Did you do it, did you do it?’ So he said, ‘I did it.’ Isn’t that amazing? But of course he would say that. I’m sure Brian Epstein made a move, yeah.” When asked whether Lennon had rejected Epstein, Ono replied: “He just didn’t want to do it, I think.”
The Beatles with Brian Epstein. (Image Credit: Keystone / Getty Images)
In the interview, Ono also spoke of how Lennon had not had sex with a man during his life, but that this was a result of him never having found a man who he found attractive both mentally and physically, with Lennon allegedly telling her: “You just can’t find people like that.”
As detailed in my feature regarding how John Lennon’s life shouldn’t be remembered in an entirely positive light, given that the man had some pretty glaring and damning flaws, I detailed how Lennon once nearly beat a man to death for insinuating that he had engaged in a homosexual relationship with Brian Epstein, an incident which occurred during the beginning of The Beatles’ rise to fame and, if his victim had pressed charged, could likely have led to the Fab Four’s careers being placed on hold prematurely.
Lennon died on December 8th, 1980 after being shot by Mark Chapman, with Ono also telling the Daily Beast that she believes Lennon’s assassin should stay behind bars forever.
