Here's What We Know About John Lennon's Tragic Childhood

John Lennon grew up with some stability while living with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George Smith, but he was not quite right emotionally. Between the upheaval in his early years, plus his mother's untimely death, Lennon was emotionally hardened, even downright nasty, as a youth. As noted by The Guardian, Lennon was known for shoplifting and bullying students and teachers alike. According to one of his former art school classmates, Thelma Pickles, Lennon took particular amusement in cruelly mocking the disabled.

"Anyone limping or crippled or hunchbacked, or deformed in any way, John laughed and ran up to them to make horrible faces," she said.

Besides his mother, Lennon would suffer the loss of other important people in his life while he was still young, including his uncle and father figure, George; his childhood best friend, who died of a brain hemorrhage; and his mentor and manager, Brian Epstein, who died of a barbiturate overdose. These traumatic losses seemed to add to Lennon's emotional hardness, which did not improve with age. Lennon's oldest son, Julian, has remained outspoken about how callous and absent his father behaved towards him and his first wife, Cynthia Powell. In a statement issued to Rolling Stone in 2000, Julian Lennon expressed how hurt he had been by his father.

"I had a great deal of anger towards Dad because of his negligence and his attitude to peace and love. That peace and love never came home to me," he said.

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