"Called Ugly Japanese and Beaten"... Yoko Ono Reveals Ordeals Faced by Beatles Fans

Documentary 'One to One: John & Yoko' Released
Ono: "People Verbally and Physically Attacked Me on the Street"

Yoko Ono (92), a Japanese avant-garde artist and wife of Beatles member John Lennon, revealed the hardships she faced from Beatles fans in her youth.

On the 12th (local time), US media including CNN reported that the documentary 'One to One: John & Yoko' premiered the day before in the United States.

Ono grew close to Lennon during the late 1960s when conflicts arose among the Beatles members. Lennon fell in love with her after visiting Ono's exhibition in the US, divorced his then-wife Cynthia Powell in 1968, and remarried Ono.

In the documentary, Ono said she was labeled as the "cause of the Beatles' breakup" because of this.

She denied this claim, recalling, "When I was pregnant, many people sent me letters saying, 'I hope you and your baby die.'"

John Lennon (left) and Yoko Ono [Image source=Naver Movie]

She also recalled, "When I walked with John, people would come up to me, call me an 'ugly Japanese,' pull my hair, and hit my head," adding, "I almost lost consciousness." Around that time, Ono experienced three miscarriages.

Ono had a son (Sean Lennon) with Lennon, who was later shot and killed by an assailant in front of his New York home in 1980.

The documentary includes recorded phone conversations between Lennon and Ono, remastered footage of a 1972 charity concert, and footage of Ono delivering a speech at the first International Feminist Conference held at the University of Cambridge in the UK.

She said, "As an artist, I enjoyed relative freedom with little regard to gender until I met Lennon, after which I had to undergo tremendous changes," adding, "Society suddenly began to treat me as the possession of the most influential man of our generation."

She continued, "Suddenly, I was seen as an ugly woman just because I was associated with John," and "The whole society started attacking me and wishing for my death, so I began to stutter," revealing the pain she endured at the time.

Ono had previously stated in a 2010 interview with CNN, "I am not the cause of the Beatles' breakup." At that time, she said, "Because my love for Lennon was so intense, I had no choice but to endure it as best as I could."