A letter written by John Lennon to his ex-wife Cynthia regarding his use of the drug LSD is up for auction next month.
The signed letter offers a revealing insight in to the former Beatle’s first marriage, and is expected to sell for more than $25,000 at RR Auction.
Lennon wrote the letter in November 1976, eight years after their divorce, in response to an interview with Cynthia in a British magazine.
In the story, Cynthia suggested that her ex-husband’s use of LSD had helped cause the breakdown of their marriage, and sent him into the arms of Yoko Ono.
"I tried to pull him back but I couldn’t. There were so many people around him trying to influence him. They’d say they could invent an island where there was sunshine all the time. And John believed them.
"I always hoped he would understand that you don’t have to do these things to be yourself. But it didn’t work. I could see John being sucked away into a dream world."
Not only did Lennon read the story, but it obviously touched a nerve and he felt compelled to reply.
He wrote an open letter and sent it to a leading U.S magazine, with a note which read:
"I would appreciate this letter being printed in your magazine without any edits. I think it only fair to me and your readers to present my side of the story. Thank you."
The letter reads in part:
"As you and I well know, our marriage was over long before the advent of L.S.D. or Yoko Ono…and that’s reality! Your memory is impaired to say the least. Your version of our first L.S.D. trip is rather vague, and you seem to have forgotten subsequent trips altogether!
"You also seem to have forgotten that only two years ago, while I was separated from Yoko, you suddenly brought Julian to see me in Los Angeles after three years of silence. During this visit, you hardly allowed me to be alone with him for one moment. You even asked me to remarry you and/or give you another child, ‘for Julian’s sake’! I politely told you no, and that, anyway, I was still in love with Yoko…
"Finally, I don’t blame you for wanting to get away from your ‘Beatle’ past. But if you are serious about it, you should try to avoid talking to and posing for magazines and newspapers! We did have some good years, so dwell on them for a change, and, as Dylan says, it was ‘A Simple Twist of Fate’! love & good luck to the three of you, from the three of us."
The RR Auction Fine Autographs and Artifacts sale runs online from July 21 until August 9.
