The Lesser-Known Tragedy in John Lennon’s Life That Showed His Son a Whole New Side of the Temperamental Musician

Tragedy seemed to follow John Lennon throughout his life, inadvertently seeping over into the people closest to him. He lost his mother to a violent end when he was only a teenager after an off-duty police officer struck his mother, who was walking in the crosswalk. His relationships in adulthood were often troubled and, by his own hand and admission, abusive. And of course, the rock ‘n’ roll icon met his own tragic end when Mark David Chapman murdered him on the sidewalk outside of his New York City apartment.

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But that wasn’t the only tragedy that befell Lennon outside of the famous Dakota building off Central Park. In Philip Norman’s biography, John Lennon: The Life, Lennon’s second son, Sean Ono Lennon, recalled a lesser-known heartache their family endured during that time. “Alice, our black cat, had jumped out the window after a pigeon,” Sean said.

The apartments Lennon, Sean, and Yoko Ono lived in were on the seventh floor. Alice died instantly. “I remember that as the only time, I think, I ever saw my dad cry,” Sean reflected. Given everything Lennon had already been through with the family’s other cat, Gertrude, it’s no surprise that this freak accident devastated the musician.

John Lennon Had Just Lost His Other Cat, Gertrude

John Lennon cared for many cats throughout his life, starting with the ones his Aunt Mimi took in when he was a child in Liverpool. Those closest to him remembered him as having an affinity for animals, especially cats. As any other pet owner would, Lennon treated these four-legged creatures like family. That included another cat who ruled the roost at the Dakota apartment alongside Alice: a Russian blue named Gertrude.

Gertrude had suffered a viral infection from which Lennon nursed her back to health. However, months later, Gertrude became sick again. According to Geoffrey Giuliano’s Lennon In America, this second infection was far more serious. The virus that was afflicting Gertrude was contagious to humans, which made her a serious health risk to Lennon and Yoko Ono’s young son. Lennon’s vet recommended they euthanize Gertrude and quarantine Alice to be safe. Lennon’s assistant and one-time lover, May Pang, recalled Lennon holding Gertrude in his lap, weeping, as she was put to sleep.

Lennon was undoubtedly a divisive figure with a destructive temper. Yet, these smaller moments in his life—the ones that took place off the stage and outside of the spotlight—shed a softer light on the international superstar. He was a “crazy cat dad,” so to speak, who often treated his animals better than the humans in his life.

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