Sex Pistols singer John Lydon’s wife of nearly five decades has died at 80 after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Lydon – whose stage name was Johnny Rotten – cared for his wife, Nora Forster, for years after she was diagnosed with the illness.
On Thursday, a statement was shared to his official social media accounts, revealing the sad news.
“Rest in Peace Nora Forster,” the statement began. “It is with a heavy heart that we share the sad news that Nora Forster – John Lydon’s wife of nearly 5 decades – has passed away.”
JOHN LYDON ON CARING FOR HIS WIFE: ‘THE REAL PERSON IS STILL THERE’
The statement continued, “Nora had been living with Alzheimer’s for several years. In which time John had become her full time carer.”
The Twitter message concluded by asking fans to give Lydon space to allow him to grieve.
In 2020, Lydon, 67, revealed in an interview with The Mirror that he had become his wife’s full-time caregiver.
He said he made that decision because he didn’t want to “let anyone mess up with her head.”
“For me, the real person is still there,” he said of Forster. “That person I love is still there every minute of every day, and that is my life. It’s unfortunate that she forgets things. Well, don’t we all?”
He continued, “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.”
Lydon noted that in 2020 his wife’s disease was worsening, but he found it “amazing” that she “never ever forgets me.”
“Why pay for professionals to work on this when I think the message is a bit of love goes a long way,” he said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia.
“It is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment,” the website says.
The punk rock star and Forster wed in 1979. The couple did not have any children.
In 2014, Lydon got candid about his relationship with Forster.
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“When I first met Nora, my future wife, we disliked each other so much we were drawn together like magnets,” he told The Guardian at the time.
“She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. She was also well educated, funny and dressed magnificently, with a wink to ‘40s film noir. I have never been unfaithful, though I had plenty of opportunity in the Sex Pistols. We both played the field before we met and found it very wanting,” he said.
“The idea of losing Nora is unbearable,” he continued. “If one of us goes before the other, it will be murder for the survivor. She is older than me, but women live longer, so we should die at exactly the same time. That would be perfect.”
