On the Internet, posts with a story about how John Lennon’s first wife, after a divorce, needed money and she had to sell the old love letters of the musician. However, an anonymous buyer was Lennon’s colleague on The Beatles Paul McCartney, who gently returned their synthi. We checked the reliability of such messages.
Posts with this story are especially popular on Facebook (1, 2, 3) and "VKontakte" (1, 2, 3). In addition, it can be found on entertainment sites. Sometimes in such publications in detail tells The story of how “the famous, and most importantly, rich musician John Lennon was carried away by a strange artist with a dark past” and parted with his wife. But the authors of most of the posts lower this part and immediately move to the main thing: “During the divorce, he gave almost nothing to Cynthia from his millions, although his five -year -old son Julian remained with her. At some point, Cynthia fell into a difficult financial situation and decided to sell Lennon's love letters and drawings received by her when they were a young couple. Many letters began with the words "syn, I love you very much", and you can only imagine how hard it was for her to part with such a memory of Lennon, but the finances were needed for a living with her son ... The buyer was found right away, paid without bargaining the appointed amount and wished to remain anonymous ... After a few days, Cynthia received a package with all her letters and drawings from Lennon, which were carefully placed in the framework of An applied note: "Never sell your memory. With love, Paul McCartney." There is also a version according to which McCartney personally brought Cynthia a box with the letters he bought.
This story became popular in Runet at the end of May 2024, shortly after its spread English -speaking version. How claims The Snopes project, the original was published on May 6, 2024 by the user of the X with the userneum @an3ita5. At the moment, this blog is unavailable, the oarchy version of the post has also not been preserved.
In fact, the information that Paul McCartney bought out letters to John Lennon to return their Cynthia, circulating on the Internet since 2014. Ten years later, only the details were added to her: that McCartney returned the letters just a few days after the sale and that he allegedly accompanied them with a note with the words “Never sell your memory”.
Cynthia Powell was John Lennon's first wife. They met when they studied at the Liverpool College of Arts, began to meet in 1958 and got married in 1962. A year later, the couple had a son Julian. The epistolary romance of John and Cynthia began when the beginning group The Beatles went to their first tour in Hamburg. In their memoirs "John"Published in 2005, Cynthia wrote (hereinafter it is quoted on Russian translation):
“Events related to the first trip of the guys to Hamburg have long become a legend, but I had my own, special idea about them thanks to the long and detailed letters of John. He described every detail related to their stay in Germany, including those details with which he would not want to introduce his family. For many years I kept all his letters, but after the divorce I destroyed the part, and I sold part when I really needed money. Of course, now I am very sorry about it. ”
With the growth of the popularity of The Beatles, the spouses began to correspond less and less: the group’s schedule on tour was painted in peritually, and Cynthia was occupied by the child. Nevertheless, sometimes they still exchanged letters. Cynthia recalls one thing that was especially expensive for her. Lennon wrote it in 1965, and it was a question of his son:
“You know, I now miss him as a person. For me, he is no longer just a “child”, “my child”, but a living piece of myself. He is Julian for me and everything that I have, and I can’t wait for the moment when we will see each other again. I have never missed him like that. Probably so, slowly, I become a real father. I spend for so many hours in some make-ups or somewhere else and all the time I think how much time I spent, instead of being with him, playing with him-and who pulled me to read these devils of newspapers and all the shit when he is here, next to me, in the room. I understand, everything is wrong! He does not see me, but I want, I want him to know me, and love, and missed me - just like I miss now.
Everything, I have to finish. These thoughts about what kind of heartless bastard I am will probably soon bring me to the pen. Three hours in the afternoon, not the best time for emotions, but I want to cry, even if it is stupid. I write, but I don’t have enough air in my chest. I don't know what's wrong with me. It seems that the tour does not differ from the others, the continuous "hee-hee" yes "haha", but in the intervals-emptiness, no feelings.
I will go, otherwise this letter becomes too dreary.
Love you. Very much.
Sin from John. "
Then Cynthia says that after the divorce she sold several letters of Lennon, including this. “A few years later, the new owner again put up a letter for sale, and Paul McCartney bought it. He inserted it into the frame and gave us Julian. It was an extremely touching gesture that we deeply appreciated, ”she writes.
Although Cynthia was grateful to McCartney, she did not store this letter in 1991 Sold He again. This is stated in the collection published in 2012 "John Lennon. Letters". In addition, it states that the letter was originally written on seven pages, but only two have reached this day.
Thus, after the divorce, Cynthia Lennon really sold part of the letters that her husband wrote to her (and the part destroyed). A few years later, one of the letters sold bought Paul McCartney, inserted in a frame and gave Cynthia. The data that he advised her to never sell his memory could not be found.
Photo on the cover: The screenshot of Theguardian.com
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