John Lydon
“My wife forgets most of it, but not me”
John Lydon takes care of his wife around the clock.
© Marko Zamrznuti tonovi / shutterstock.com
Musician John Lydon cares for his wife who has Alzheimer’s disease. Although she forgets most of it, “she doesn’t forget me,” he said now.
John Lydon (65), former front man for Sex Pistols (“God Save The Queen”), has in an interview with “The Sunday Times” talked about his existence as a full-time carer for his wife Nora Forster (78), who has Alzheimer’s disease. He accepted that his wife’s condition was “incurable” and that “it would never get better”.
The disease is “nasty, slow and debilitating,” and although it forgets most things, “it doesn’t forget me,” said the Briton, who is also known by his stage name, Johnny Rotten. There are moments when he is “incredibly sad and full of anger”, but he just has to accept it.
His wife, who came from Germany, fell ill with Alzheimer’s three years ago. There is little help with the disease and its progression is still a “great unknown”, explains the musician. He knows that the disease will develop into something really terrible, “but we face it all with a sense of dignity”.
He will continue to keep his promise “forever” and he is proud to “do the best I can for her,” says Lydon, who has been married to Forster for 45 years. The couple settled in a coastal Los Angeles suburb in the 1980s.
First signs eleven years ago
The couple have no child together, but Lydon was the stepfather of Forster’s Munich-born daughter Ariane Forster (1962-2010), known as Ari Up. The singer of the post-punk band The Slits died of breast cancer eleven years ago at the age of 48. According to John Lydon, after that, his wife showed the first signs of Alzheimer’s.