What happened to Yoko Ono? Here's what the Japanese artist is up to these days

John Lennon’s, 87-year-old widow Yoko Ono is quite possibly one of the most well-known women in the world. The Japanese artist was married to the Beatles musician for 11 years between 1969 to 1980 and the pair shared a son named Sean. For as long as they were together, the couple was surrounded by controversy. October 9 this year was John Lennon’s 80th birth anniversary and fans have been thinking back to his tumultuous relationship with Yoko Ono, who is now the loyal keeper and protector of Lennon’s musical and cultural legacy. Read on to find out, “What happened to Yoko Ono?”

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What happened to Yoko Ono?

A report in the New York Post revealed that Yoko Ono was on a wheelchair in 2017. The 87-year-old Ono made an appearance at the ceremony for the National Music Publishers’ Association in 2017, where she received their Centennial Song Award. In her heartfelt acceptance speech, Ono stated that she had learnt a lot from having this illness. She stated she was thankful to have gone through it.

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Where is Yoko Ono now?

It still remains unclear as to what that illness is. The report suggests that some fans at the time speculated that it might have been a stroke, that had left Yoko Ono wheelchair-bound, but her 45-year-old son, quickly tweeting, “Only stroke @yokoono had was a Stroke of Genius! … She’s really fine.”

However, a year earlier to this in 2016, it was reported that Ono was hospitalised in New York City with flu-like symptoms. The NY Post report further stated that she was admitted to the same hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital, where John Lennon had been pronounced dead in 1980 after being shot.

On John’s 80th birthday, Yoko took to her Instagram handle and posted a lovely picture with a heartwarming caption, wishing Happy Birthday to her late husband. 

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Yoko Ono and her relationship with John Lennon

Another report in Cheatsheet, reveals that Ono and Lennon first met at London’s Indica Gallery in November 1966. At the time, John was married to Cynthia, and the Beatles had just released Revolver. Yoko Ono was also married at the time to Anthony Cox. The pair hit it off from the get-go and swiftly merged their personal and creative lives in a way that disappointed many of the Beatles fans at the time. When they had met Yoko Ono had no idea who John Lennon was. Hence, she wasn’t impressed by his fame in the least.

In spite of being married, the heart wants what it wants, and the pair started their romance as an affair. Cynthia soon found out about the affair and divorced Lennon. Less than a year after Yoko entered John’s life, The Beatles broke up and fans were quick to shove the blame on to Yoko. She did have an undeniably strong influence on John’s life.

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Did Yoko Ono break up The Beatles?

Yoko Ono was an avant-garde artist, known for experimenting with and creating art that seemed far ahead of its time and was also incomprehensible to many. The Cheatsheet report revealed that Ono often encouraged Lennon to try more experimental music rather than sticking with mainstream hits. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t bode well with the fans.

The report suggests that Yoko Ono revealed in an old interview that Lennon had gotten obsessed with her. He wanted to spend every minute with her, and would even follow her to the bathroom so they wouldn’t be apart for a minute. This new obsession didn’t leave much time to create music with the band. 

Soon the other Beatles members confronted him about it. The band could not endure Lennon’s absence and separated soon after. Yoko Ono gave birth to their son Sean Lennon on John’s birthday. John passed away when Sean was only 5 years old. After his death, Yoko Ono constructed Strawberry Fields in Central Park, New York as a way to honour her late husband and also founded the John Lennon Museum.

Image Source: John Lennon (Instagram Fanpage)