John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Son Gives Rare Details on His Childhood
Originally appeared on E! Online
Sean Ono Lennon is shedding light on his legendary family.
The son of and Yoko Ono, who were married from 1969 until the alum's death in 1980, described his parents as 'ahead of their time' for the way they documented their lives long before that became the norm.
'I think it's really interesting that John and Yoko famously recorded their lives all the time via video—I mean, via 16 millimeter film,' he told Variety in an interview published April 11. 'The fact that they were doing that in the early '70s, before reality television and before social media and before memes … As far as I am concerned, it's like they were the first reality TV celebrity couple.'
Sean, 49, explained that his father—who also shared son Julian Lennon, 62, with his first wife Cynthia Lennon—adopted the practice partly out of necessity, as the FBI began surveilling him in 1971 amid his anti-war activism.
'On one of the audio calls, you hear my dad saying, 'I'm recording all of these calls just so we have our own copy of this, so if anyone ever tries to say anything about what we are talking about, then we'll have our own version—so we'll know what the truth is,'' Sean continued. 'It's pretty wild to think that that was actually necessary to do, which I think it was probably a smart idea.'
And given that Sean was just 5 years old when his father was murdered, those tapes are all the more precious to him.
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'On one of the audio calls, you hear my dad saying, 'I'm recording all of these calls just so we have our own copy of this, so if anyone ever tries to say anything about what we are talking about, then we'll have our own version—so we'll know what the truth is,'' Sean continued. 'It's pretty wild to think that that was actually necessary to do, which I think it was probably a smart idea.'
And given that Sean was just 5 years old when his father was murdered, those tapes are all the more precious to him.
"Especially because I grew up without my dad around," he went on, "every recording of his voice and every video of him that people have seen, it's a limited resource."
Amid the release of the documentary One to One: John and Yoko, which features newly-unearthed phone calls recorded by his parents, Sean also noted that viewers may see his mother in a new light.
'People are really gonna get to hear my mom speak for herself in an undeniably candid context,' he added. 'I think it really shows what she suffered and what she went through, but also how smart she was, and how she was viewing the world at the time.'
One to One: John and Yoko opens in theatres April 11. For more details on John Lennon's death, read on.
John Lennon's Final Interviews
The Last Picture ShowA Day in the LifeLennon's Final Hours
The Murder of John LennonThe News Breaks
John's BoysWas Mark David Chapman Insane?The Deal With The Catcher in the RyeWhere Is Mark David Chapman Now?Yoko Ono Carries On For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
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