John Lydon says he sleeps next to his late wife Nora Forster’s ashes, three months ago at the age of 80 following a two year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. 

The Punk legend, 67, became his wife’s full-time carer after she was diagnosed with the degenerative condition in 2021.  

And he admitted it ‘has been much harder than he thought’ dealing with the loss of his wife after spending nearly fives decades together. 

He opened up about the loss to The Times: ‘I thought I would be able to handle this side of it, but it is, if anything, worse. 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…’

He added: ‘Some of them rules I haven’t been following could prove a problem. It doesn’t bode well!’

Heartbroken: Sex Pistols' John Lydon has revealed that he sleeps next to his late wife Nora Forster's ashes which he place in a cupboard next to his bed after she passed away three months ago at the age of 80

Heartbroken: Sex Pistols' John Lydon has revealed that he sleeps next to his late wife Nora Forster's ashes which he place in a cupboard next to his bed after she passed away three months ago at the age of 80

Heartbroken: Sex Pistols’ John Lydon has revealed that he sleeps next to his late wife Nora Forster’s ashes which he place in a cupboard next to his bed after she passed away three months ago at the age of 80

Amazing: The Punk legend, 67, became his wife's full-time carer after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's two years ago (pictured 1986)

Amazing: The Punk legend, 67, became his wife's full-time carer after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's two years ago (pictured 1986)

Amazing: The Punk legend, 67, became his wife’s full-time carer after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s two years ago (pictured 1986)

The couple married in 1979 and recently admitted that life without the former model would be ‘unbearable’.

Born Nora Maier, she was a German publishing heiress with a passion for music, who later became a promoter.

She had a daughter, Ariane, from her previous marriage to German singer Frank Forster. Better known as Ari Up, the late singer became the frontwoman of The Slits as a teenager and a punk icon in her own right.

Nora moved with Ari in the 1960s to west London, and hosted bands and rockstars like The Clash, Yes and Jimi Hendrix at her Shepherd’s Bush home.

In 1975, Nora met Lydon, who was 14 years her junior, at Vivienne Westwood’s famed King’s Road clothes shop Sex.

The pair were at first warned off each other by friends, but despite this, Lydon said they had an immediate and explosive connection – one which would last a lifetime.

‘It’s love, you know. I’ve always loved that woman. And she knows it. When we met we didn’t expect to get on. We’d both been told the other was a bad’un. But blimey. Sparks flew. It was instant attraction,’ he told The Guardian last year.

‘And that’s never gone. I never expected to feel like that. I never thought I was in any way attractive. Or anyone’s idea of a good date.’

The former Sex Pistol remained fiercely loyal to his wife despite the rock and roll lifestyle he led, telling Yahoo that as a star of one of the world’s biggest bands ‘sex was thrown at you, left right and centre’.

So sad: John admitted it 'has been much harder than he thought' dealing with the loss of his wife after spending nearly fives decades together (pictured 2011)

So sad: John admitted it 'has been much harder than he thought' dealing with the loss of his wife after spending nearly fives decades together (pictured 2011)

So sad: John admitted it ‘has been much harder than he thought’ dealing with the loss of his wife after spending nearly fives decades together (pictured 2011)

He told The Times: 'I thought I would be able to handle this side of it, but it is, if anything, worse. 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' (pictured 2017)

He told The Times: 'I thought I would be able to handle this side of it, but it is, if anything, worse. 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' (pictured 2017)

He told The Times: ‘I thought I would be able to handle this side of it, but it is, if anything, worse. 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’ (pictured 2017)

‘No, it wasn’t for me… I don’t like that flippancy. I grew up having childhood illnesses, and somehow it left me feeling that there was something wrong with me,’ Lydon said, referring to his ordeal with spinal meningitis aged just seven.

Lydon spent a year in hospital and suffered from severe side effects, including memory loss for four years following the disease, an experience he said helped him to understand his wife’s recent illness and needs.

‘I know that fear of isolation. I know what it’s like to feel completely frightened and not know where you are.’

The years since Nora’s 2018 diagnosis were made more bearable, he said, by the two continuing to dance together, watching television and reflecting on memories of holidays.

He also added that his beloved wife had not gone away, despite her worsening illness and memory loss.

‘For me, the real person is still there. That person I love is still there every minute of every day, and that is my life,’ he said.

In her final years, Lydon added that Alzheimer’s experts had been astounded with the extent to which Nora continued to remember him, saying ‘a bit of love goes a long way.’

He and his wife’s devotion to one another was clear – and after decades together he said there would be ‘no one else’ for either of them if the other died.

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