Julian Lennon ROBERT ASCROFT FOR foureleven.agency
While most would assume that the direct descendants of The Beatles‘ members would be well-informed when it comes to matters related to the Fab Four, Julian Lennon has admitted he’s often left out of the loop.
Lennon’s admission was made in a new interview with U.K. publication The Guardian, where he spoke about his photography work and his newest release, the coffee table book Life’s Fragile Moments. Alongside discussions of how new music isn’t on the cards just yet (a failed attempt to hit the late-night talk show circuit in 2024 left him “heartbroken”), Lennon also touched on what drives him professionally.
“It had always been, ‘John Lennon’s son, John Lennon’s son’, and I’m going, ‘for f’s sake’. I said, what I need to do for me, first and foremost, is to build up a body of work, a foundation that I can stand on, that nobody can take away from me,” said Lennon. “And I continue to do so. It’s not to show off, it’s just to prove to myself that I can actually do this stuff. I’m not interested in fighting other people’s opinions.”
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Elsewhere, Lennon also touched on the recent resurgence that The Beatles have seen from the wider public. In the past few years, the iconic group have been in the spotlight thanks to documentaries such as Peter Jackson’s Get Back (2021), David Tedeschi and Martin Scorsese’s Beatles ’64 (2024), and the 2024 restoration of Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 film, Let it Be.
In 2023, The Beatles also issued “Now and Then”, which earned nominations for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
According to Lennon, however, he’s often the last to know about any activity with the Fab Four’s camp.
“It’s news to me half the time. I’m not part of the inner circle – I never have been,” he admitted. “You have to realise that when Dad left, when I was between three and five (it was a bit of a process), it was just mum and me, and we had nothing to do with the Beatles or Dad. I visited him on the odd occasion but we were very much on the outside. I’m thankful that Sean and I get on like a house on fire – we’re best buddies and he tells me what he can, but things are pretty secret on the Beatles front.
“[It’s] extraordinarily strange but I’m not upset about it,” he continued. “I’d rather be excited and impressed by what they did and continue to do. As a fan, I’m just as curious as anybody else, although I do find myself going, ‘how is it possible that there’s another Beatles film?’”
Lennon recently took to social media in December to urge his followers to undergo regular doctor visits following an emergency surgery after a second skin cancer diagnosis. Just before the end of the year, on Dec. 30, Lennon updated his followers that he had received “the ‘all clear’” from his doctors.
