Paul McCartney says Yoko Ono claimed John Lennon 'might have been gay' after his death
Paul McCartney claims Yoko Ono once made an interesting claim about John Lennon's sexuality.
During an interview with Vanity Fair, the former Beatle said Ono — who was married to Lennon for over 10 years before his death in 1980 — told him that her husband "might have been gay" during a phone call shortly after Lennon was murdered in 1980.
"I swear [Ono] rang me shortly after John died and said, ‘You know, I think John might have been gay.’"
"I went, ‘I’m not sure.’ I said, ‘I don’t think so. Certainly not when I knew him’... because we’d been in the ’60s. We’d been around with loads and loads of girls. And I bumped into seeing him jacking … a lot of girl action."
McCartney — who recently opened up about The Beatles' history in the new documentary "Man on the Run" — said that he had "slept with John very often, but there was never anything."
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"There was never a gesture, never an expression. It was nothing. So I had no reason to believe this at all."
The VF interview was conducted in 2015 but republished last month amid the documentary's release.
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McCartney recalled rumors of Lennon's sexuality swirling after traveling with Brian Epstein, The Beatles manager who was gay, in 1963.
"But I saw that as a power play, which was very John," McCartney said. "Brian would ask him as a homosexual thing – a good-looking boy who Brian fancied. They went down to Spain, had a fun time. No doubt John would play into the thing."
"I personally didn’t think anything had happened," he added. "Certainly never heard about anything happening. But I saw it as: ‘You want to deal with the Beatles? I’m the leader.’"
Lennon and Ono’s marriage wasn’t always smooth sailing.
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From late 1973 through 1974, Lennon embarked on his "Lost Weekend" in Los Angeles while being separated from his wife. Ono had banished the singer-songwriter from their home after he had had "loud, raucous sex" with another woman at a party.
While Lennon was eager to return to Ono, she was wary about him coming home. That’s when she got by with a little help from McCartney.
"There was a time when Sir Paul McCartney offered Yoko his willingness to speak to John in Los Angeles about the separation," the couple’s pal, Elliot Mintz, told Fox News Digital in 2024. "She seemed grateful for that invitation."
The former Los Angeles radio and TV announcer, who met the couple in the early ‘70s, released a memoir, "We All Shine On: John, Yoko, & Me," in 2024 with the blessing of their son, Sean Lennon.
In the book, he described how McCartney gave a heartbroken Lennon sound advice on how to win back his love.
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"Paul came out here, he had a meeting with John," said Mintz. "His advice to him was, ‘You can’t just say that you’ve changed. You have to show it. You have to prove it. It would be like dating her again. You have to bring her flowers, you have to take her out for dinners. You have to show her how important she is to you in your world.’"
Mintz said that Lennon took McCartney’s advice "to heart." It worked.
"Yoko accepted him back in their home, and they resumed their relationship," Mintz explained. "It was not fun to be around John during the lost weekend. Keep in mind that John had never really been a bachelor. From his days at Liverpool, he had always been married. So this was a time when he sowed wild oats. Yoko sent him out here [in Los Angeles] while they had problems in their marriage to find himself."
"Actually, he lost himself during the lost weekend and climbed the ladder back to her heart," Mintz reflected.
Fox News Digital's Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this post.