John Lennon's Final Interviews

Thirteen years after John Lennon appeared connected the screen of Rolling Stone's archetypal issue, released Nov. 9, 1967 (newsstand price: 25 cents), the mag featured its last photograph sprout and interrogation with the "Imagine" singer, journalist Jonathan Cott wrapping his past chat with the creator a fewer days earlier helium died.

The media "only similar radical erstwhile they're connected the mode up, and erstwhile they're up there, they've got thing other to bash but s--t connected them," Lennon, whose benign reflection successful 1966 that The Beatles were "more fashionable than Jesus" triggered each sorts of backlash against the Fab Four, told Cott. "I cannot beryllium connected the mode up again. What they privation is dormant heroes, like Sid Vicious and James Dean. I'm not funny successful being a dormant f--king hero."

In September 1980, Lennon and David Sheff, who was interviewing him for Playboy, talked astir the unit successful the satellite and the so-far fruitless efforts to quell it.

"Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King are large examples of fantastic non-violents who died violently," Lennon mused, per Sheff's 2020 book All We Are Saying. "I tin ne'er enactment that out. We're pacifists, but I'm not definite what it means erstwhile you're specified a pacifist that you get shot. I tin ne'er recognize that."

The Last Picture Show

The past time of Lennon's life started with meal at Café La Fortuna with Yoko Ono, his woman of 11 years, and a haircut astatine Viz-à-Viz. Then it was backmost to the Dakota, the famed Central Park West gathering wherever helium and Ono had lived since 1973, for an at-home league with photographer Annie Leibovitz, who was snapping the mates for Rolling Stone.

"John came to the doorway successful a achromatic leather jacket," Leibovitz recalled, per Smithsonian Magazine, "and helium had his hairsbreadth slicked back. I was thrown a small spot by it. He had that aboriginal Beatle look."

She knew RS editor-in-chief Jann Wenner wanted her to seizure Lennon solo, but the instrumentalist insisted it beryllium him and his wife. "I privation to beryllium with her," Leibovitz recalled him saying.

The photograph sprout resulted successful the iconic representation of a wholly bare Lennon curled astir a afloat clothed Ono (who refused to undress), the mates lying connected the plush white carpet successful their surviving room.

Leibovitz told RS decades later, "I retrieve peeling the Polaroid and him looking astatine it and saying, 'This is it. This is our relationship.'"

Instead of being the screen representation for the publication's planned spread heralding the couple's album Double Fantasy, it served arsenic the screen of their Jan. 22, 1981, Lennon tribute issue.

A Day successful the Life

After finishing up with Leibovitz, Lennon went downstairs (at 1 constituent helium and Ono owned 5 units successful the building) to portion an interview with Dave Sholin and Laurie Kaye for RKO Radio. They each had to instrumentality their shoes off, Sholin recalled, but Lennon "loosened everybody up immediately."

The begetter of then-17-year-old Julian with ex-wife Cynthia Lennon and 5-year-old Sean with Ono described his emblematic routine: "I get up astir six. Go to the kitchen. Get a cupful of coffee. Cough a little. Have a cigarette." He besides watched Sesame Street with Sean, Lennon noting, "I marque definite helium watches PBS and not the cartoons with the commercials—I don't caput cartoons, but I won't fto him ticker the commercials."

Lennon's Final Hours

Among his poignant musings that afternoon, Lennon—who had conscionable turned 40 connected Oct. 9—again touched connected mortality. "I anticipation I dice earlier Yoko," he said, "because if Yoko died I wouldn't cognize however to survive. I couldn't transportation on."

But otherwise, Sholin said, Lennon "was conscionable bubbling implicit with enthusiasm with everything successful his life. He felt similar that was it; helium had turned the leafage and was starting different chapter."

At astir 5 p.m. connected Dec. 8, 1980, Lennon and Ono headed retired for a workplace league astatine the Record Plant to proceed enactment connected a remix of "Walking connected Thin Ice."

As they were leaving the Dakota, a man asked Lennon for an autograph, extending his copy of Double Fantasy. The "Give Peace a Chance" singer dutifully stopped to motion the album, scrawling "John Lennon 1980." The seemingly innocuous infinitesimal was captured by photographer Paul Goresh.

After a fewer hours successful the studio, Lennon and Ono opted to spell backmost location to accidental goodnight to Sean alternatively of spell close to meal with producer David Geffen.

The Murder of John Lennon

At 10:45 p.m., Lennon and Ono's limo dropped them disconnected connected West 72nd Street, successful beforehand of the gated arched entryway to the Dakota. Lennon was a fewer paces down his wife, carrying a stack of tapes, erstwhile Mark David Chapman—the aforesaid feline who got his autograph extracurricular the gathering hours earlier—shot the instrumentalist 4 times with a .38 revolver, hitting him doubly successful the backmost and doubly successful the shoulder.

Chapman didn't fly the scene. And due to the fact that information is alien than fiction, the 25-year-old truly did driblet his gun, propulsion a paperback transcript of Catcher successful the Rye out of his overgarment pouch and commencement to read. He was arrested wrong minutes by the NYPD officers who were connected nighttime patrol adjacent and were archetypal to respond to a study of shots fired astatine 1 West 72nd St.

Not wanting to hold for an ambulance, constabulary laic Lennon successful the backmost of a squad car and took him to what was past St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, astir a mile away, wherever helium was pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m.

The News Breaks

Millions of people, including Rolling Stone editor Wenner, recovered retired that Lennon had been killed erstwhile ABC Sports announcer Howard Cosell shared quality of the "unspeakable tragedy" during Monday Night Football.

Wenner walked across Central Park to the Dakota arsenic soon arsenic helium heard. "There was a spot of singing and radical holding candles," helium shared in RS. "People genuinely didn't cognize what to do."

John's Boys

Sean Lennon said helium didn't cognize what had happened until a fewer days later.

"I retrieve it truly clearly, idiosyncratic saying my ma wants to speech to me," the musician told Rolling Stone in 1998. "I had to spell into the bedroom, and my ma was successful bed. She'd evidently been successful furniture for days. I retrieve benignant of glancing astatine a header connected a newspaper. I could hardly read; I didn't truly cognize what it meant."

He recalled trying to beryllium beardown for his mother, adjacent telling her she was young and would find idiosyncratic other to beryllium with ("which was an aggravated happening to say, present that I deliberation astir it"), but past ran into his country and "started crying hysterically."

"Hey Jude" inspiration Julian Lennon, who was surviving successful the U.K. with his ma astatine the time, said that helium and his begetter had conscionable started talking much not agelong earlier helium was killed.

John played "Starting Over" for him implicit the phone, Julian told BBC Radio 2 successful 2020, and helium remembered saying helium loved it. Then helium listened to Double Fantasy and loved that, "and past obviously, what happened, happened. I conscionable retrieve that arsenic being the past benignant of moments, listening to him being highly blessed successful a blessed place, and doing what helium loved...I was precise blessed for him and looking guardant to seeing him again."

Was Mark David Chapman Insane?

Chapman was charged with second-degree murder. He had confessed to pulling the trigger and told constabulary helium utilized hollow-point bullets due to the fact that helium intended to termination Lennon.

A fig of psychiatrists and psychologists evaluated Chapman successful the months aft the shooting. Six experts moving with his lawyers judged him to beryllium psychotic, 5 diagnosing him with paranoid schizophrenia, portion different thought his symptoms were much successful enactment with manic depression. The prosecution's 3 experts agreed helium was mentally ill, yet determined helium was competent to basal trial.

In January 1981, Chapman pleaded not blameworthy by crushed of insanity. But against the proposal of his attorney, who told the tribunal helium inactive had "serious questions" astir his client's competency to marque specified a decision, Chapman entered a blameworthy plea connected June 22, 1981. He told the justice that God had willed him to bash truthful and helium would ne'er alteration his plea, nor appeal.

On Aug. 24, 1981, Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to beingness successful situation and ordered to acquisition psychiatric treatment.

The Deal With The Catcher successful the Rye

The 2007 film Chapter 27, starring Jared Leto arsenic Chapman, derived its rubric from the information that J.D. Salinger's seminal 1951 novel The Catcher successful the Rye only has 26 chapters. As in, this was Chapman writing the next section of his ain Holden Caulfield-esque unraveling.

From jailhouse aft his arrest, Chapman sent the New York Times a handwritten enactment successful which helium encouraged everyone to work Salinger's "extraordinary" book, arsenic it would ''help galore to recognize what has happened."

''If you were capable to presumption the existent transcript of The Catcher successful the Rye that was taken from maine connected the nighttime of Dec. 8, you would find successful it the handwritten words 'This is my statement,'" Chapman wrote. ''Unfortunately I was incapable to proceed this stance and person since spoken openly with the police, doctors and others progressive successful this case. I present afloat recognize that this should not person been done for it removed the accent that I wanted to spot connected the book."

While the transcript helium spoke of was confiscated arsenic evidence, helium acquired different that he'd bring with him to court. On the time of his sentencing, erstwhile asked if helium had thing to say, Chapman work the transition that invokes the title, erstwhile Holden describes his perfect pastime to small sister Phoebe: preventing children from falling disconnected the borderline of a cliff arsenic they played successful a tract of rye.

Where Is Mark David Chapman Now?

Chapman remains incarcerated astatine Green Haven Correctional Facility successful New York and his parole has been denied 12 times to day (Ono has opposed his merchandise each time), most precocious successful 2022. The now-68-year-old is inactive joined to Gloria Abe, his woman since 1979, and they're reportedly allowed 1 44-hour conjugal sojourn a year.

"Thirty years agone I couldn't accidental I felt shame and I cognize what shame is now," Chapman said during his 2018 parole hearing. "It's wherever you screen your face, you don't privation to, you know, inquire for anything...As each twelvemonth goes by, I consciousness much and much shame. What it comes down to is I americium atrocious for my actions. I americium atrocious for my crime."

Back successful 2010, helium said that helium fundamentally did it for the fame.

"I felt that by sidesplitting John Lennon I would go somebody," helium said, "and alternatively of that I became a murderer, and murderers are not somebodies."

Yoko Ono Carries On

"It would person been a batch alien to tally away," Sean Lennon, who grew up with his dad's fans adjacent gathering for his birthday extracurricular the building, told Rolling Stone successful 1998. "The Dakota was each we had near of him. Memories and everything. How could we leave? What are we going to do? Run distant and unreal helium ne'er existed? No. It would beryllium denial. We lived there, and that's wherever helium lived. That's wherever we started the family. It was retired of respect for him, and retired of respect for the family."

"But to this day," Sean added, "when I locomotion into the Dakota with my mom, I marque definite she walks successful beforehand of me. I can't archer you however galore dreams I've had astir being shot, man. I can't archer you however galore dreams I had erstwhile I was a small kid astir my ma getting shot."