John Lydon discusses battle with grief following wife’s death
For the past few years, John Lydon had been focused on caring for his wife in her battle with Alzheimer’s disease. In light of her passing, the punk rock frontman has begun to open up about how he is dealing with her loss.
Although Lydon had discussed the problems that he faced when his wife was struggling, he admits that the grief process was much harder than he imagined, telling The Times, “I thought I would be able to handle this side of it, but it is, if anything, worse”.
To preserve the memory of his wife, Lydon has kept her close to the chest, continuing, “I like to sleep with Nora’s ashes in the cupboard next to the bed because there is no expectancy of meeting her in this life again. And if there is a hereafter, some of them rules I haven’t been following could prove a problem. It doesn’t bode well!”.
Nora Foster had originally been diagnosed with mid-stage Alzheimer’s back in 2018. After two years, Lydon had announced that he had become the full carer of his wife in 2020 as her disease continued to deteriorate.
While Lydon made no question about his struggle, he doesn’t want any sympathy from any of his fans. Although he did acknowledge the pain that came with his wife’s death, he doesn’t want any pity as others “go through far worse”.
As Lydon takes to the road after his wife’s passing, he also talked about feeling uneasy, explaining, “My manager’s thrown me in the deep end and I don’t know if I can survive. Will my ego come back? It’s hard to go from 24/7 care to this. I’m unprepared”.
Though Lydon was still having his struggles with grief, he preferred to remember the happy times more often, recalling, “Nora and I argued a great deal but the arguments were so stunning that they made life worthwhile, and we were always honest and open about everything”.
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