I met Prudence Farrow and she told me the real story.
----- Original Message -----
From: Robert
To: fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2009 4:58 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] 'Dear Cyn, won't you come out to Play?'
From Cynthia Lennon's biography...
The Beatles publicly renounced drugs (although never completely) after
their initial meetings with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in London, and took a
train to Bangor, in Wales, to meet him again in the summer of 1967. A policeman
stopped Cynthia from boarding the train as it was pulling out (not knowing who
she was) with Lennon calling out of a window after her, "Tell them to let you
on!".[72] She broke down in tears, and later said that it symbolised where she
felt their marriage was heading, with Lennon speeding into the future and
herself being left behind.[73] Epstein had previously agreed to travel to
Bangor to join them after the August Bank Holiday, but died of a drug overdose
on 27 August 1967, which was a massive shock to both her and Lennon.[74][75]
India
The Beatles were scheduled to fly to India to visit the Maharishi for
two or three months, but before that she found letters from Yoko Ono that made
it clear that Lennon had had contact with her over a period of time. She had
previously met Ono when Ono asked for a lift in Lennon's car after a meeting
with the Maharishi in a London suburb.[76] Lennon denied that he was involved
with Ono, and said that she was just some "crazy artist" who wanted to be
sponsored, although Ono kept up a stream of calls and visits to Kenwood.[77]
In February 1968, she flew to India with Lennon and the other Beatles
and their partners.[78] She had taken pens and paper with her, so was able to
draw, meditate with Lennon every day, and for the first time in her life she
started to write poetry.[79] "Magic Alex" (Greek-born Alex Mardas who was part
of Apple Electronics) was also with them, and smuggled in alcohol from the
nearest village as it was not allowed in the ashram. After two weeks Lennon
wanted to sleep in a separate room from her, saying that he could only meditate
when he was alone.[80] She found out much later that Lennon walked down to the
local post office every morning to see if he had received a telegram from Ono,
who sent one almost daily.[79]
Divorce
Cynthia and Julian at Kenwood in 1968, after Lennon had left.
She had suspicions of Lennon's infidelity over the years, and people
had told her that he had had numerous affairs as far back as their time
together at the art college in Liverpool, but she decided to ignore it, unless
there was definite proof.[81]
After returning to Kenwood from India, Lennon got very drunk on scotch
and coke and confessed that there had been other women during his time with
her. He detailed every groupie, friends of hers (such as Joan Baez, and Maureen
Cleave) and told her about "thousands" of women around the globe.[82] She was
totally taken aback at the time and simply replied, "That's OK".[83] Two weeks
later, in May 1968, Lennon suggested that she take a holiday in Greece with
Mardas, Donovan and two friends. Lennon said that he would be very busy
recording The White Album and that it would do her some good to take a
break.[83]
The beginning of the end for the Lennon's marriage came when she
arrived back at Kenwood one day early from Greece on 22 May 1968, to discover
Lennon and Ono sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring into each others
eyes, and then found Ono's slippers outside their bedroom door.[84] She
gathered a few things and asked Jenny Boyd and Mardas if she could spend the
night at their apartment. At the apartment Boyd went straight to bed, but
Mardas got Cynthia drunk and tried to convince her that they should both run
away together. After she had been sick in the bathroom she collapsed on a bed
in the spare bedroom, but Mardas joined her and tried to kiss her until she
pushed him away.[85]
Lennon seemed absolutely normal when she returned to Kenwood the next
day, and maintained his love for her and Julian.[86] Lennon went to New York
with McCartney shortly after and told her she could not go with them, so she
went on a trip to Italy with her mother.[87] Mardas appeared during the holiday
in Italy and broke the news that Lennon was planning to sue her for divorce on
grounds of adultery, seek sole custody of Julian, and send Cynthia "back to
Hoylake".[88] She said in 2005: "The mere fact that ‘Magic Alex’ [Mardas]
arrived in Italy in the middle of the night without any prior knowledge of
where I was staying made me extremely suspicious. I was being coerced into
making it easy for Lennon and Yoko to accuse me of doing something that would
make them not look so bad."[89]
She was allowed to return to Kenwood, while Lennon and Ono took up
residence at Starr's flat at 34 Montagu Square. Lennon and his wife had one
last short meeting at Kenwood (with Ono alongside Lennon) but Lennon accused
her of an affair in India—saying that she was no "innocent little flower".[90]
McCartney visited Cynthia and Julian that year, even though it was frowned upon
by Lennon.[91] On the way to Kenwood he composed a song in his head that would
later be "Hey Jude".[91] Having just broken up with fiancée Jane Asher, he took
Cynthia a single red rose, and asked jokingly "How about it, Cyn? How about you
and me getting married now?"[92]
During their divorce, Lennon refused to give his wife any more than
£75,000, telling her on the phone, "That's like winning the pools, so what are
you moaning about? You're not worth any more."[93] She did not want to take
half of Lennon's millions (as she would have been entitled to) because she did
not want a lengthy court battle, so she accepted £100,000, plus £2,400 a year,
custody of Julian and Kenwood. Their decree nisi was granted on 8 November
1968.[94]
She learned of Lennon's death while she was staying with friends in
London. She received a call from Starr two hours after Lennon had been shot in
New York on 8 December 1980. "I don't remember getting out of bed and going
down the stairs to the phone. But Ringo's words, the sound of his tearful voice
crackling over the transatlantic line, is crystal clear: 'Cynthia, I'm so
sorry, John's dead.' In my stunned state I had only one clear thought. My son -
our son - [Julian] was at home in bed, I had to get back to Ruthin so that I
could tell him about his father's death."[95]
Later life
On 31 July 1970, she married Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini, whom
she'd first met in Italy, in 1966, and started dating after parting with
Lennon.[96] She divorced Bassanini in 1973. During Lennon's separation from
Yoko in 1973 and 1974, his girlfriend, May Pang, actively tried to get Lennon
to spend more time with Julian, forming a friendship with Cynthia in the
process, which continued even after Lennon and Yoko had reconciled. Cynthia
said in an interview in 2005: "I met her [Pang] the first time I took Julian to
see his father after he had split with Yoko. She was a very young girl and she
was so kind and so lovely to Julian.... She embraced him and she talked to
Lennon about his responsibilities. I’ve never forgotten that. I have a really
soft spot for May and you can communicate with her – I’ve never ever been able
to communicate with Yoko on any level."[97]
In May 1976, she married John Twist, an engineer from Lancashire, but
they divorced in 1983. She then settled in Ruthin, north Wales, and opened the
Manor House Restaurant, Well Street. Her son Julian Lennon attended Ruthin
School. She met Jim Christie, who was her partner for 17 years until they broke
up in 1999.[98] She said at the time: "Jim [Christie] has never felt he's
living in John Lennon's shadow. He's four years younger than me and wasn't
really part of that whole Beatles scene, though his parents were in
showbusiness. He knew Julian before he knew me and, in fact taught him to ride
motorbikes - and we became friends as a result."[99]
After her divorce from John Twist, she changed her name back to Lennon
by deed poll. She kept mementos of Lennon for years, including never-published
photographs, letters, and personal items, auctioning off many of them after his
death. She published a memoir, A Twist of Lennon, in 1978, telling about her
life before and with Lennon, containing her own illustrations and poetry.[100]
In 2002 she married Noel Charles, a night club owner. In September 2005, she
published a new biography, simply titled John, that re-examined her life with
Lennon and the years afterwards, including events following his death. In 2006,
she and Julian attended the Las Vegas premiere of the Cirque du Soleil
production of the Beatles Love, which marked her only joint public appearance
with Ono.[101] Cynthia currently lives on the island of Majorca, Spain.
