Johnny Rotten talks of life as carer for wife with dementia

FORMER Sex Pistols singer John Lydon says he was in lockdown before the coronavirus as he is now a full-time carer for his wife who has Alzheimer’s.

Best known for his punk rock past as Johnny Rotten, he showed a tender side yesterday as he spoke about his life with 78-year-old Nora Forster, a German publishing heiress he married in 1979.

John, 64, has mentioned her illness over the past year in interviews but had never spoken about caring for her.

He said: “Nora has Alzheimer’s and so I am under lockdown anyway because I am her fulltime carer and I won’t let anyone mess with her head.

Amazing

“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.

“I don’t need to go out and socialise with buttholes. It’s unfortunate that she forgets things.Well, hello, don’t we all?

“I suppose her condition is one of like a permanent hangover for her. It gets worse and worse, bits of the brain store less and less memory and then suddenly some bits completely vanish.

“But it’s quite amazing as the alleged experts we have had to deal with at enormous expense have said they have been very impressed that she never ever forgets me.

“We are constantly there with each other [in her mind] and that bit won’t go. Why pay for professionals to work on this when I think the message is a bit of love goes a long way?”

John, who lives in Los Angeles, has spoken of the secret to his successful marriage.

In 2017, he said: “Permanent arguments are the secret to a happy relationship.

“I’ve been with Nora for more than 35 years and we are open and honest about everything.

“My advice is simple: Don’t.

John with his wife, the German heiress Nora Forster, in 2004 and in 1987, left. She now has Alzheimer’s

Let. Things. Fester.” John has spoken too of his enduring love for Nora and how they met.

He has said: “She’s a very private person. But it’s love, you know. I’ve always loved that woman. When we met we didn’t expect to get on.We’d both been told the other was a bad ‘un. But blimey. It was instant attraction.

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