John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s Relationships: A Tale of Jealousy and Freedom

John Lennon and Paul McCartney, two members of the legendary band The Beatles, had different experiences when it came to relationships. McCartney was the last Beatle to get married, while Lennon was the first. However, there was an interesting dynamic between them that often led to jealousy.

Paul McCartney Said John Lennon was Jealous of his Relationship

In 1963, McCartney began dating Jane Asher, a London-based actor. They moved in together and continued dating until 1968. Despite living together, McCartney felt a great deal of freedom in their relationship and continued to date other people.

“Living in the Asher house gave me the base and the freedom and the independence,” McCartney said. “That, alongside all the other things, because I wasn’t married to Jane. I was pretty free.”

McCartney’s freedom in his relationship with Asher made Lennon jealous. Lennon, who was already married with a child, couldn’t experience the same level of freedom in his own relationship.

“He said, ‘Well, if you go out with another girl, what does Jane think?’ and I said, ‘Well, I don’t care what she thinks, we’re not married. We’ve got a perfectly sensible relationship,'” McCartney recalled. “He was well jealous of that, because at this time he couldn’t do that, he was married with Cynthia and with a lot of energy bursting to get out.”

Paul McCartney recognized that John Lennon’s first marriage wasn’t going to last

When Lennon expressed his jealousy, McCartney understood that his bandmate wasn’t suited for a traditional relationship like the one he was in with Asher.

“He’d tried to give Cynthia the traditional thing, but you kind of knew he couldn’t,” McCartney said. “There were cracks appearing but he could only paste them over by staying at home and getting very wrecked.”

In 1967, The Beatles traveled to Wales for a seminar on Transcendental Meditation. Lennon left his wife, Cynthia, behind and boarded the train without her. McCartney saw this moment as a sign that the Lennons’ marriage was coming to an end.

“I remember Cynthia not making the train, which was terrible and very symbolic,” McCartney said. “She was the only one of our party not to get there. There’s a bit of film of her not making it. That was the end of her and John, really, weirdly enough.”

When did John and Cynthia Lennon divorce?

Not long after the train incident, John and Cynthia Lennon ended their marriage. In 1968, Lennon admitted to cheating on Cynthia with multiple women. Despite his claims of wanting to make their marriage work, Cynthia returned home to find him with Yoko Ono, wearing matching bathrobes in their kitchen. This was the final straw, and the couple divorced in 1968.