<p id=”par-1_66″>Yoko Ono and <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/john-lennon/”>John Lennon</a> began a relationship while he was still married to his <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/celebrity-relationships/?swcfpc=1″>first wife</a>, Cynthia Lennon. The affair, of course, did nothing good for the relationship between the two women. When Ono first met Cynthia, though, she said she liked her a great deal. She recognized an innate strength in her that had to be present in order to put up with Lennon. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-yoko-ono-shared-what-she-thought-of-cynthia-lennon-when-she-first-met-her”>Yoko Ono shared what she thought of Cynthia Lennon when she first met her</h2>
<p id=”par-2_20″>Cynthia met Ono before she realized she was <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/john-lennon-first-wife-cynthia-found-him-home-yoko-ono.html/”>having an affair</a> with her husband. Ono said Cynthia’s poise impressed her.</p>
<p id=”par-3_84″>“The first time I met her at Kenwood — I thought she was very quiet and sensitive — a nice lady,” Ono said in the book <em><a href=”https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-you-need-is-love-peter-brown/1144209490?ean=9781250285010″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words</a> </em>by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines. “She had a nice figure and my feeling was in Liverpool, when he went to art school, I think she was like a different class of chick, you know, rather elegant and graceful, and I think that’s probably what impressed John.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Yoko-Cynthia.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon, and Julian Lennon stand together in front of a blue wall. They all wear black.” class=”wp-image-3686587″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono, Cynthia Lennon, and Julian Lennon | Wendell Teodoro / Contributor via Getty</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-4_22″>Ono believed Cynthia’s intelligence had helped her win Lennon over. She also believed that Cynthia’s strength helped her stay in the relationship.</p>
<p id=”par-5_35″>“She was a strong lady,” Ono said, adding, “She had to be strong to be with John. He wasn’t a Goody Two-shoes. He was already complex and a boy with a chip on his shoulder.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-yoko-ono-could-tell-john-and-cynthia-lennon-s-marriage-was-in-a-bad-place”>Yoko Ono could tell John and Cynthia Lennon’s marriage was in a bad place</h2>
<p id=”par-6_41″>Before Cynthia discovered the affair, Ono said <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/yoko-ono-felt-bad-way-john-lennon-talked-1st-wife-front.html/”>Lennon often complained</a> to her about his wife. While this made her uncomfortable — she knew he shouldn’t be talking about his wife that way to her — she developed deep feelings for him.</p>
<p id=”par-7_85″>“Obviously, their marriage was not going gloriously; otherwise, he wouldn’t want to have me around,” she said. “The thing is, John and I fell in love. But he was a man of the world by then. He wasn’t a virgin. I think he’s one of those people who took marriage very seriously and I do too … So to leave that and get together, there had to be a very strong reason for it. But as John said, it was bigger than both of us.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-she-said-she-didn-t-want-to-get-involved-with-a-married-man”>She said she didn’t want to get involved with a married man</h2>
<p id=”par-8_29″>Ono faced criticism over the years for pursuing Lennon, but she said this was not what happened. She claimed she hadn’t wanted to get involved with a married man.</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Yoko-ONo-John-Lennon.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”A black and white picture of Yoko Ono and John Lennon looking sideways at each other. He wears glasses.” class=”wp-image-3682742″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Yoko Ono and John Lennon | Susan Wood/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
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<p id=”par-9_59″>“I didn’t want to have any difficulty with a married man,” she said, adding, “I was very much interested in my work. I had my child and my husband. Getting help [from John] on a work level was all right. I probably had this feeling that I just wanted to keep it that way, not getting sticky about it.”</p>
<p id=”par-10_13″>Still, the couple did not remain platonic for long. They <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/john-lennon-and-yoko-onos-wedding-plans-were-ruined-so-they-improvised.html/”>married in 1969</a>.</p>