Yoko Ono gave a revealing interview to The Daily Beast's Tim Teeman recently, opening up about her ongoing pain over John Lennon’s murder and her fear of being targeted by his assassin Mark David Chapman.
Describing herself as “super-careful, almost like a certain animal who is used to being hunted,” Ono says she still worries that Chapman represents a threat to her safety. “One thing I think is that he did it once, he could do it again, to somebody else—you know. It could be me, it could be Sean [son Sean Lennon], it could be anybody, so there is that concern,” she explains.
Saying she would be concerned if Chapman was released, Ono noted that "probably he had a purpose he wanted to accomplish like ‘Kill John Lennon.’ So he might have another purpose."
"He’s not the kind of person who’s… I don’t think he’s just doing it emotionally," she added. "There is a reason, whether a simple reason or not, to do what he does, and justify it. So that’s very scary.”
Ono also opened up about long-held rumors about Lennon’s bisexuality, saying that she and Lennon had talked about it and agreed that all people were bisexual, but she doesn’t ultimately think Lennon ever went all the way with a man.
“I think he had a desire to [have sex with men], but I think he was too inhibited,” said Ono, before clarifying: “No, not inhibited. He said, ‘I don’t mind if there’s an incredibly attractive guy.’ It’s very difficult: They would have to be not just physically attractive, but mentally very advanced too. And you can’t find people like that.”
“The beginning of the year he was killed, he said to me, ‘I could have done it, but I can’t because I just never found somebody that was that attractive,’” she added. "Both John and I were into attractiveness—you know—beauty.”
Addressing longstanding rumors that Lennon hooked up with Beatles manager Brian Epstein, as chronicled in 1991 film “The Hours and the Times," Ono seemed to imply that something went on, although she doesn’t think they consummated the relationship.
“Uh, well, the story I was told was a very explicit story, and from that I think they didn’t have it [sex],” Ono confessed. “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,” she said. As for Lennon? “He just didn’t want to do it, I think.”
Read the full, occasionally cryptic interview — which delves into Ono’s experience with racism and her relationship with Paul McCartney -- over at The Daily Beast.
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