JOHNNY FOUGHT FOR NORA’S LIFE
Sex Pistol weeps on stage as he recalls night wife lost Alz battle
SEX Pistol John Lydon wept on stage while speaking about his beloved wife Nora’s final moments.
The punk star (68) was opening his 45-date UK speaking tour called I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right. Lydon, known as Johnny Rotten, lost Nora (80) last year after a two-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Recalling the night she died, he said: “She started a death rattle, like the breathing. It is very, very strange and uncomfortable to be around. I knew then that it was finally coming. She held my hand and said ‘Johnny’.
“And then in a heartbeat the ambulance arrived, in minutes.
“They kept trying to revive her. Her heart would come back for a little bit and then stop again. And then the most painful question was, ‘Shall we stop now and let her rest in peace?’ I was like, ‘No f***ing way’.
“If I ever had to go through this all over again I’d still say the same. You have to fight for life ’til the very last breath, it is worth it. The agony, whatever, take it all. Don’t give up on yourself or anybody else. I love my Nora.”
Carer
Lydon met Nora at Vivienne Westwood’s famous King’s Road clothes shop Sex in 1975. They married in 1979 and he became her full-time carer after she was diagnosed in 2021. He also showed fans in the Theatre Royal in Brighton a picture of her urn with flowers by the side of his bed. He said: “Forgive me, the flowers are plastic. There is a reason as real flowers rot and that is the saddest vibe in the world. Plastic flowers go on forever.
“She loved colours but she’s going to have to wait for my ashes to join her.”
He also spoke of his impoverished upbringing in Holloway, north London, being born to Irish parents and growing up with “f***-all opportunity”.
The legendary singer added: “When I was born the doctor did not like me. He grabbed my ankles and held me like a turkey. I was nine pounds and some awkward ounces.”