John Lydon has said his former Sex Pistols bandmates did not contact him following the death of his wife, Nora Forster, who died in April 2023 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
In a recent interview with The Times, Lydon — who performed as Johnny Rotten during his time with the Pistols — said he did not hear from guitarist Steve Jones, bassist Glen Matlock or drummer Paul Cook after Forster’s passing.
“I expected some kind of connection when Nora died, but nothing,” Lydon said.
Forster was married to Lydon for nearly five decades. In the final years of her life, Lydon served as her full-time carer, frequently speaking publicly about the emotional and physical toll of Alzheimer’s disease and how it reshaped his outlook on life.
“All the things I thought were the ultimate agony seem preposterous now,” he said at the time. “It’s shaped me into what I am. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it.”
Lydon’s comments arrive amid continued tension between the singer and his former bandmates, who have toured in recent years without him, performing Sex Pistols material with former Gallows frontman Frank Carter as lead singer.
The former band member has been openly critical of the decision, describing the live shows as “karaoke” in previous interviews and questioning the group’s artistic direction while speaking to British publication The i Paper about the tour, explaining that he largely felt “annoyed” by the whole affair and feared it would tarnish the group’s legacy.
“When I first heard that the Sex Pistols were touring this year without me it pissed me off,” he explained. “It annoyed me. I just thought, ‘they’re absolutely going to kill all that was good with the Pistols by eliminating the point and the purpose of it all.’ I didn’t write those words lightly.”
“They’re trying to trivialise the whole show to get away with karaoke but in the long term I think you’ll see who has the value and who doesn’t. I’ve never sold my soul to make a dollar. It’s the Catholic in me – that guilt I don’t want to trip.”
The Sex Pistols initially existed from 1975 until 1978, releasing their sole studio album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols in 1977.
Famously, the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, though refused to attend the ceremony, labeling the institution a “piss stain.”
