Paul McCartney Discusses Yoko Ono's Claim That John Lennon Could Have Been Gay

Paul McCartney has revealed that Yoko Ono once told him she believed her late husband, John Lennon, "might have been gay."

The comment, according to McCartney, came during a phone call shortly after Lennon's death in 1980.

The former Beatle shared the story in a past interview with Vanity Fair, which resurfaced recently as attention returned to McCartney's career with the release of a new documentary about his life after The Beatles.

"I swear she rang me shortly after John died and said, 'You know, I think John might have been gay,'" McCartney recalled.

McCartney said he did not agree with the idea. The two musicians were close friends and bandmates for years, especially during the band's rise in the 1960s.

"I went, 'I'm not sure.' I said, 'I don't think so. Certainly not when I knew him,'" McCartney explained.

According to Daily Mail, he said the two spent a lot of time together during their early years in music and never saw anything that made him believe the claim.

"We'd been in the '60s. We'd been around with loads and loads of girls," he added.

Paul McCartney Opens Up About John Lennon

McCartney also spoke about their personal closeness during those years. As bandmates and friends who traveled and worked together often, they sometimes shared the same rooms while touring.

"I'd slept with John very often, but there was never anything," McCartney said. "There was never a gesture, never an expression. It was nothing. So I had no reason to believe this at all."

The singer acknowledged that rumors about Lennon's sexuality had circulated in the past. Some speculation focused on Lennon's relationship with the band's manager, Brian Epstein, who was openly gay.

In 1963, Lennon and Epstein once traveled together to Spain, which fueled talk among fans and the press. McCartney, however, said he believed Lennon may have simply been playing along with the attention.

"But I saw that as a power play, which was very John," McCartney said, suggesting Lennon enjoyed keeping people guessing, Fox News reported.

Lennon and Ono married in 1969 and remained together until his death on December 8, 1980, when he was shot outside his New York City apartment building. The couple shared one son, Sean Ono Lennon.

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Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Yoko Ono