John Lennon's first wife, Cynthia Lennon, is dead at 75
Cynthia Lennon, the first wife of John Lennon and mother of their son, Julian, died of cancer on Wednesday at her home in Mallorca, Spain, at age 75. Cynthia Powell and John Lennon met in art school in Liverpool, and married in 1962 after she became pregnant but before the Beatles recorded their first single, "Love Me Do."
It was not a very happy marriage, according to her two memoirs and several interviews, and it ended after John started a relationship with his future second wife, Yoko Ono. After their divorce in 1968, Cynthia Lennon remarried three times, and her last husband died in 2013. She is survived only by Julian Lennon, who posted this video after her death. —Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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