Yoko Blames Paul for Beatles Break Up
Yoko Ono blames Paul McCartney for the disbandment of The Beatles, according to a 25-year-old interview uncovered this week.
The Beatles, which consisted of McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon - Ono's now-deceased husband, first formed in 1960. After achieving international fame with songs such as "Love Me Do" among several others, the band split up in 1970.
Although it has often been cited that Ono was the reason the iconic band went their separate ways, she pointed the blame at McCartney.
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During an interview from 1987, Ono explained that each member of the Beatles had been long considering solo careers.
"The Beatles were getting very independent," Ono said during the recently uncovered interview with Rolling Stone magazine's Joe Smith, according to the Huffington Post.
"Each one of them [was] getting independent," she continued. "John [Lennon,] in fact, was not the first who wanted to leave the Beatles. [We saw] Ringo [Starr] one night with Maureen [Starkey Tigrett], and he came to John and me and said he wanted to leave. George [Harrison] was next, and then John."
Despite giving credit to McCartney for being the only one "trying to hold the Beatles together," Ono said that it was his fault the band broke up because the others felt that the singer and songwriter was taking too much control.
"The other three thought Paul would hold the Beatles together as his band," said Ono during the 1987 interview. "They were getting to be like Paul's band, which they didn't like."
Ono went on to describe the months that followed the band's break up, and even divulged Lennon's discontentment in the past interview. She told Smith that the famous singer missed his band mates and "expected all that to be replaced by me," according to the Huffington Post.
Lennon and Ono wed in 1969 just weeks after Lennon's divorce from Cynthia Powell was finalized.
Although the pair have often publicly disagreed on many topics, Ono's statements about McCartney during the 1987 interview come as a surprise to many.
McCartney has been one of her only defenders from those who blame Lennon's second wife for the band ending.
McCartney said in October that Ono "certainly didn't break the group up, the group was already breaking up" while speaking to interviewer David Frost.
Today, 79-years-old Ono is still active in the art world as well as in philanthropic contributions.
