Beatles star John Lennon’s family guide: Meet his two sons

As a bandmate Paul McCartney later noted The Beatles John Lennon short life was full of tragedies.

He grew up in a turbulent family dynamic after his father Alfred left at an early age and his mother Julia let her sister Mary “Mimi” Smith raising him, John’s family life was never smooth sailing.

As an adult, John welcomed two sons, Julian Lennon, 61 a Sean Ono Lennon, 49 – and before his untimely death at 40 in December 1980, he was a very different kind of father.

These days, the brothers “face their demons together,” as Julian says in an interview with dear sir in 2021.

“It’s funny because it’s always been, especially in the British press, ‘Lennon Sons Feuding’, this, that. We’ve never had a fight in our lives. It’s such bullshit,” he said.

Read more about key family members during John’s life.

Julian Lennon

John’s foray into fatherhood began controversially when he and girlfriend at the time Cynthia Powell found out they were expecting a baby after not using birth control.

When John (then 21) discovered Cynthia (then 22) was pregnant, he decided to get married – and the couple tied the knot in 1962. In April 1963, their son Julian was born, but John missed the birth due to his commitments. The Beatles.

While John was around for the first few years of Julian’s life, eventually he left Cynthia Yoko Ono and had a strained relationship with Julian for most of his life.

Julian later reflected on his complicated relationship with John in an interview with The Guardian in 2020.

“Then all of a sudden my dad literally disappeared off the face of the planet. At least that’s how it seemed to me. He and Yoko Ono were deeply and publicly in love. And I felt like my mom and I were being thrown aside,” he told the newspaper. “It’s been maybe 10 years in which my dad and I have barely spoken. I was very angry at how he left the family. It was thanks to my mother that we started talking again. She was such a gentle soul, never vengeful in any way, shape or form. She always wanted me to have a relationship with him.”

Julian who is an inspiration Paul McCartney the song “Hey Jude” written for him after John and Cynthia’s divorce, he also shared that he eventually reconnected with his father before his death.

“When I first visited him in the US after my parents’ divorce, I was scared. I became more and more aware of the greatness of this man,” he said The Guardian. “To my relief, the visit was a success. My dad was charming, funny and warm. I remember that we got along better since that trip.’

Sean Ono Lennon

Unlike his parenting style with Julian, John was a more hands-on father the second time around.

John welcomed his youngest son Sean into the world in October 1975 with second wife Yoko and took a break from music to become a house husband.

In an interview with Playboy which took place in September 1980 and was published in January 1981, John shared how well he handled the role.

“I was baking bread and taking care of the baby … because bread and babies, as every housewife knows, is a full-time job,” he told the magazine at the time.

unfortunately, John was fatally shot in December 1980 when Sean was just five years old.

talk to Rolling Stone in 2020, Sean reflected on how his father’s death affected him, explaining that he still had memories of his father when he was alive.

“A lot of people don’t remember when they were five,” he said during the interview. “I never asked a psychologist, but I assumed because my father’s death was so traumatic for me that a lot of those early memories just stayed. I have more memories of being five and four than I do when I was 16.”

Julia and Alfred Lennon

John’s parents Julia and Alfred Lennon they first met when they were teenagers and secretly married ten years later in 1938. John was born in 1940, but his parents did not raise him – Julia allowed her sister Mary “Mimi” Smith raise your son.

Fellow Beatle McCartney spoke about John’s troubled upbringing at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

“As a child, his mother was told she wouldn’t be good enough to raise him … His father left home when John was 3. So it’s nothing short of amazing,” McCartney, 82, recalled. “I realized why he’s so vulnerable. I’ve always admired the way he dealt with it because I’m not sure I would have dealt with what he went through as well.’

Julia was tragically killed after being hit by a car aged 44 in 1958. John was just a teenager at the time.

“It was another big trauma for me. I lost her twice. I moved in with my aunt when I was five and then when she passed away physically,” he said Playboy in 1980. “That made me bitter; the chip on my shoulder that I had in my youth got really big then. I was just actually rekindling my relationship with her and she was killed.”

John and Alfred were estranged for much of their lives, but reunited on Alfred’s deathbed in 1976.

Mimi Smith

John was raised by his aunt Mimi and her husband George Smith. Mimi and John remained close throughout his life. After the success of The Beatles, John bought a property for Mimi in Dorset, UK, where she lived until her death in 1991.