“Nothing”: John Lydon Claims Sex Pistols Bandmates Never Reached Out After His Wife’s Death

John Lydon has a bone to pick with his former bandmates. In an interview with The Times, the former frontman of the Sex Pistols claimed that his one-time bandmates didn’t reach out after his wife’s death.

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Nora Forster, Lydon’s wife of 44 years, died in 2023 due to Alzheimer’s complications. She was 80.

Lydon told the outlet that he has not spoken to Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook, or bassist Glen Matlock in years.

“I expected some kind of connection when Nora died, but nothing,” he claimed.

While the Sex Pistols, of whom Lydon was a part between 1975 to 1978 and briefly in 1996, didn’t reach out in his time of need, the singer said he still has “a very great fondness for the chaps from that period.” However, he qualified, “What they evolved—or devolved—into since is another consequence.”

Of more import to Lydon than the Sex Pistols is Public Image Ltd, the band he’s been a part of from 1978 to 1992, and from 2009 on. The band, he said, has become “a college of music for people launching individual careers.”

“It’s an expensive outing for me,” Lydon said. “Once we got off the major labels things started to look up. We’re not in anyone’s debt now.”

John Lydon Speaks Out About Nora Forster’s Death

Forster’s death rocked Lydon’s world. In fact, he told the outlet that he considered suicide his wife died.

“You have to consider all the possibilities because that kind of pain is so overwhelming,” he said. “[It] is the greatest tragedy in my life so far. She taught me everything about love.”

Lydon cared for Forster full-time for several years before her death. Now that she’s gone, he said, “all my responsibilities have gone and left me, so it’s a horrible thing to say but there is a relief there.”

That measure of relief doesn’t mean that he sees love in his future, though.

“That’s it as far as that’s concerned,” Lydon said of his romantic life after Forster’s death. “It would be replacing her and that’s not possible.”

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