John's Aunt Mimi 1981 UK Interview
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- čas přidán 25. 11. 2008
- The complete interview John Lennon's Aunt Mimi did in 1981. I had never seen this complete, so I thought I would share it. Mimi had a great sense of humor, very similar to Johns. Mimi confirms John planned on visiting soon
- Hudba
Never forgot this woman bought John Lennon his first guitar, that alone secured her place in music and world history forever
ONE
HUN-
*DRED*
Johns mom actually bought him his first guitar
Yes, his mother bought it according to his sister.
@@lithograph-yx2ds was that not a banjo?
Strong woman, just a year after his death and able to crack jokes and laugh. I'm still crying over 40 years later...
Me too, she loved him so much and so do I. ❤🇦🇺
She´s in good spirit, just like John was most of the time. But her saying "If I thought he was gone, I don´t think I could go on" was heartbreaking.
No you’re not
She was a very sturdy lady. If it wasn’t for her, we might never have had the Beatles.
really sad that he’s already been dead longer than he was ever alive 😢
She adopted him and loved him. When nobody wanted him. John was grateful and adored her. I do too.
It's not like Julia didn't want John. There was just a lot of things going on in Julia's life that made her incapable of taking care of John properly.
Rick Yo she didn’t adopt him
Actually, after Freddie (John's dad) got separated from Julia, he wanted and tried to keep John with him and move to New-Zealand... that's the turning point when aunt Mimi opposed and looked after John for good.
Good northern woman.
Never officially adopted, just look after him like one of her own.
While I was in the sixth grade I wrote to each Beatle “parent” and asked for an autograph. Each one answered me, except for Paul’s dad. The sweetest note was from Aunt Mimi. Lovely lady.
well, then she woke up.
why did you want an autograph of their parents?
Another delusional drama queen. Daddy didn't give her enough attention.
@@optimisticoutreach1236
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Yeah Rebecca and i got an autograph of George’s son in 1962. Good times. If you don’t believe me, i was born in 2002.
She’s an unspoken legend. The most famous aunt in history.
Her last words were "hello, John."
How do you know?
They said someone was in the room with her when she fell.
She fell, Sienna? Did she die when she fell?
Shortly afterwards she did
Sienna Wooldridge, do you know if she hit her head?
"Thank you, we've had enough" lmfaooo. She was a riot.
do you mean idiot?
Girl i dig your hair
I heard Paul McCartney on an interview recently say that John liked strong women. I can see it’s because of Mimi
Cynthia was a gentle type, softly spoken and reserved. The total opposite of Yoko.
Yoko sold Mimi's house out from under her.
PupinTheTurd III Urg are you kidding me? What a witch
Yoko is strong now?💪
Because John himself was weak. Weak men always need strong women. Strong men need gentle women.
''What do you do?''
''I'm an artist.''
''Well, I've never heard of you.''
Consider yourself sassed
+Thomas C Yea, she was cool. OMG Aunt Mimi was so spot on.
Thomas C Yoko wanted to push John away from his family, even his own son, Julian.
Whenever any of them including Julian used to try to phone John to talk to him, yoko would answer most of the time and make up an excuse as to why John couldn't talk on the phone and then would hang up. She was the one who persuaded John to move to New York just so she could have John all to herself. She didn't care that he had family and a son that all cared about him. I think moving to New York was a big mistake for John. He wouldn't have got shot if he wouldn't have lived there.
You see, Yoko wanted and still does want to be seen as the only important person in his life and that only she mattered. She pushed everyone that loved John out of his life.
Don't even get me started on what happened after John's death and how cruel she treated his family. John wanted to be burried, he told everyone close to him his fears about being cremated, but yoko didn't care and cremated him just so she could keep him to herself and so his family couldn't say their proper and last goodbyes.
She didn't even tell them he died, so they had to find out like everyone else via the media. No family should find out a person from their family had been so tragically killed by finding out through newspapers and the media. She didn't even tell them if he had been burried or cremated or if he was having a funeral or not. She never invited them. At one point she was willing not to let his own son even come because Cyn asked if she could come since Julian was obviously very upset and wanted his mum there. Cynthia asked yoko on the phone, but yoko literally replied "I'm sorry, Cynthia, but if you come he doesn't come. It's not like you're an old school friend of mine is it?" So Julian had to go on his own.
It's like yoko wasn't even letting his family and friends grieve for him. I know it would've been awkward since she was his ex wife, but John was Cyn's love of her life, she loved him deeply, so of course she would be sad and grieve him too. She knew him much longer than yoko and was met him when they were only teenagers. A quote from Cynthia is: "The man I love the most died a tragic death."
In fact, the biggest mistake John did was leave Cynthia and Julian to be with yoko. If he stayed with them, then he wouldn't have been killed so young.
Even when John was with Cynthia Mimi didn't like her, but only because she didn't like any woman for John. Mimi saw Cynthia again after John died and asked her why she let him leave for yoko. I think she liked Cynthia because she was a lovely woman who cared about John and loved him. Not for his money, but for him. She loved him for who he was (unlike yoko, but I guess I'll get more into that if you want me to.)
Julia, John's mother certainly would've liked Cynthia. His sister, Julia once said about Cynthia: "Mummy would've loved Cynthia and the adoring way she was with John."
I get the feeling she knew him like a book.
You say that with a lot of sentiment and capture a good deal of the truth of the situation, Chantelle.
GuyTunes thank you! I know this information because my grandad was friends with John for 23 years. They met at Liverpool art college, 1957
Mimi: what do you do? Yoko: I'm an artistMimi: well I've never heard of you
Haha! Love her
My parents were from Liverpool and John's Aunt Mimi was very typical of her generation of Liverpudlians. Completely deadpan, don't suffer fools and refuse point blank to be impressed by anybody although they still managed to have hearts of gold. In fact one of my aunts (from Crosby) was lovely but hated the Beatles. When we asked her why, she would reply: "well they can't sing !" I notice Mimi'd managed to quell her Liverpool accent, though.
--> Noel Majers. I for one believe you. Few can suddenly sing. It takes practice to go into "role." My grandmother came from there. "Well, I do think I like 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' It has a touch to it."
What do you think of Pete Ham, from Swansea, Wales? There's a story.
www.you.tube.com/watch?v=6eUJ03rmrDs
Aunt Mimi is an absolute charmer.. what a great lady.
haha, classic and nobody sane wants to hear or see that mad cow
John Lennon lookalikes, whos your favourite ? In good humour i made something, to see it simply just type in this to search bar.......People who look like John Lennon
the fact that she called him up and told him "that's enough, thank you!" with the bed-in is freaking hilarious. she's awesome.
She really has the same kind of humor and laughter as John. Makes you think how close they were
It's easy to see that Aunt Mimi was a formidable woman.... Probably one of only a few who could've handled John... lol
--> JaleelJohanson62. You're so right. Johnny pissed off a balcony onto nuns. You do that any time recently? No. He also slapped girls around as if they were objects--expected them to obey rape. Some ran. Most don't want to talk about it.
One doubts Mimi had an easy job on her hands. He was a con. "Peace and Love?" He was a schizoid, hypocritical asshole. The music industry used and deified him because it sells. He just accidentally happened to choose two other assholes...Alan Klein and Yoko Ono. Deserted his first wife and son. You do that recently?
When Mimi was being notified about Lennon's death, her first words were: "What's John done now?"
Mary Elizabeth deserved a medal for trying, and part of Lennon knew it.
Lennon: Narcissistic nutcase. Hiding behind "eccentric" fame and wealth. Nothing new. "It sells." Married a woman whose "singing" and "writing" and "art" make people feel like vomiting. Forget "she broke up the Beatles." She just plain stunk in your face. Narcissistic Lennon knew it, even knew she was his "handler."
I'd rather hear Cynthia and Julian sing hymns out of tune, all day and night.
John and Yoko treated us all like idiots. Knowingly, intentionally.
Little Auntie Mimi knew John. "What's John done now?"
I meant to add: What kind of idiot knowingly has a "handler" for a wife. A wife with evidently no taste in art at all, in fact voraciously trying to ruin the concept itself. "The sound of a snowball." (I made that up.)
The idiot? John Lennon. Threw away a good woman and son like Cynthia and Julian.
I doubt Larry King, who interviewed her, is playing "Yoko Ono" records every day. He got his money,
Well. Ask "Mimi" what the f--k was wrong with Johnny. She knew.
+David Brown Wtf are you on about. Before I get into anything else you said, there are so so so many lies I've heard surrounding John but never have I ever heard "expected girls to obey rape". Out of all the shitty things John did I can tell you that was not one of them. He may have cheated a lot which is wrong but at least he NEVER did it without consent. Now that that's out of the way, yes we do have a story from Cynthia Lennon that back in the 50s before they were married John slapped her once. It's disgusting and Cyn rightfully broke up with him. John was incredibly regretful and later came to apologize so they got back together and he never did it again. It can be assumed he might have hit his girlfriends before Cynthia but we'll never know because the only story we actually have is Cynthia's from her book "John". It was horrible he did that, but he learnt his lesson and changed. Then with Julian, he should have been better to Julian. He was absent, partly due to being in the most famous band in the world touring then coming home tired, partly for inexcusable shitty reasons of him being an ass. But he tried to make it up to Julian. All through-out the 70s he reconciled with Julian and became a househusband for his 2nd son, he changed. Even in the 60s when he couldn't be completely there, there are stories and quotes of John hiding Julian behind himself when answering the door to protect him, or loving the smell of Talc when giving him baths, or writing letters home explaining to Cyn how much he misses Julian not as 'the baby' but as a real person. There are even more great stories of small things like that in the 70s once things were better but people seem to only want to focus on the bad stories when in reality there's so much more. Next, with the whole John and Yoko thing, a lot of people definitely don't like Yoko's 'art' which is fine. But John being quite avant garde himself did, so what? Lastly, John wasn't a narcissist, he was actually very insecure finding fault in almost everything from his weight to his voice to his writing to his nose and just himself in general and i'll gladly give you the quotes if you want. He did a lot of stupid things but I don't think they outweigh the good things he did, especially with his efforts to change and make-up for those stupid things he did in his past. He didn't "treat us like idiots", he's the one who gave us a voice shouting "power to the people!" becuase he believed we were capable to, and he was the one who treated his fans respectfully and wrote deep or witty books and lyrics for us believing we could understand them.
@Sabrina Umstead. Wow. Talk about being "on about" something. So shift the blame to the dragon lady who owned him. I have no problem with that. Insecure jerk instead. Okay, fine.
+David Brown I'm not shifting the blame onto anyone but John. The bad things that John did do, are no one but John's fault. I'm just trying to say, in my opinion, John is more than the bad things he's done, and some of these 'bad things' he's supposedly done aren't even true but lies spread around the internet.
What a grand lady. RIP Mimi and John.
Pound for pound the closest and longest relationship Lennon had.
It casts a new humanity over JL.
@Rosida Andriyana Ugh why do you have to bring negativity into a lovely remembrance? John and Yoko chose each other, for whatever reasons. It's none of our business. Perhaps part of honoring John Lennon could be respecting that choice.
Very well said!
nice lady. old school brit. war survivor. a warrior..tough. sweet...and a smartass....knows up from down...a lennon.
genius mchaggis She was not a Lennon tho
genius mchaggis She was a Stanley (his maternal aunt)
Catherine Callahan don’t bee an ass.. she’s a Lennon by association she literally raised John and he thought of her as such
Catherine Callahan ik what you meant😅 i’m not upset i’m just saying it’s unnecessary fir anyone to comment that on a post like this...
@@katamarigirl93 Indeed! They are family (simple as that)
You can tell in this interview that for all her strictness and disapproval of John's choice of career, she really did love and care about him.
Some comments on here are saying that she wasn't very niceWell if she was so bad then why did John Lennon buy her that house and more importantly why did he bother to constantly keep in contact? Why.....because he loved and respected her for what she did in bringing him up when he was vulnerable despite the fact she wasn't his biological mother.Yes, she might have been old school, quite strict and disapproving of his 'career' but it seems to have been done with loving intentions. She genuinely thought he'd have a hard time becoming a musician.God bless her. I respect old school women like her, they are the salt of the earth.
ialwtttiywtrar
Apart from the questionable way she actually obtained custody of him.
That aside...
+kelman727 John's mother basically shoved him to his aunt mimi. she could say no mind you. if ever my sister so waywards and neglected my nephews/niece(jinx) i would have keep my niece/nephew too
No, thats not the truth - Mimi had John removed from Julia and her "new" boyfriend (John called him "Twitchy" ) , she told social services that the three of them were sharing a bed ( John was five at the time ) and social services deemed that the situation was inappropriate . Mimi brought John up but he re-umited with Julia shortly before Julia was killed outside Mimi's house by an off duty policeman leaner driver.
nurlinda, I have something i common with John Lennon..I was abandoned by my mother( different reason) as a child
karry, didn't mimi have a argument with her sister about her disinterest in her son?
thank god he had mimi. she was partly responsible for the beatles in a way. national treasure rest in peace xx By the way you don't ask a woman like that questions bout johns sex life god almighty lol.
Yeah I thought that was a bit unnecessary.
but she was quite on spot " why wont they says that when he was alive? when he could fend for himself? why do they waited until.he died?"
very fair minded indeed. classic sensible english lady. very handsome indeed aunt mimi was
Yes, they might have had their issues, but at least she was probably the one and only person he could count on as a child and teenager.
soulagent79 In the end, she only wanted what was best for him, like any maternal figure.
Josh B maternal, I think you mean
She seems blunt, honest and funny.
Such a pragmatic, funny, and honest woman. I can see how John leaned on her and cared so much for her as it's clear she loved and thought the world of him. Fascinating interview. ❤️
7:50 "I can't wait to see you, I'll see you soon..."
ಥ_ಥ, my heart is melting
+Maren Denison Yes, SO sad. So sad. :(
Maren Denison 🙌
Maren Denison 😞
At this moment in time I am ill. I have lost my mum and know she will be waiting for me. I don't care what stupid or horrible comments will come back to what I have just said ,but in my heart I will see my loved ones once again just as she did. R.I.P. John and R.I.P. Mimi. X
@@CAVERN1234 I hope you do
The fact he called her every single night makes my heart melt. And the fact that a few hours before he died he was saying "I'll see you soon"/'I can't wait to see you" brought me to tears Jesus Christ
He didn't call her every single night ffs
Once a week Grace ... once a week
John was coming to Uk in January, she got his room ready and he was planning a world tour and beatles reunion. It would have been his biggest year. I'll never get over it....cruel and pointless..
You do realize he was an absentee, asshole non-entity in his first son’s life, right? You virtue-signaling attention-seeking sheeplike dolt.
Me too.
She is very direct and funny -like him.
No wonder John loved her. Who wouldn't? What a wonderful lady she was! So glad I found this video.
apparently mimi's last words were 'hello john' :')
Because she knew she will reunite with him in spirit
I have nothing but respect for John's "Aunt Mimi" I believe she was the main reason for John's success and she really loved John more than anyone had ever done or ever did. She cared about him, not as a Beatle, but as family and while they were only aunt and nephew, they were more mother and son. I heard once that John cut ties with most people in his life, but the one person that remained was Mimi. He called her every day because he really loved her and was grateful for her being there always for him. She was a true light in John's life and all of his fans.
Her love was the tough love he needed. The last thing he needed was an absentee parent or a lenient parent who was a "friend." He needed someone stern like her.
Yes.
she broke the beatles,because she sat on an amp"....
@@danielbouju1688 Yep! Paul said so!!!
@John Deegan Yeah, she did say in this interview that he called maybe once or twice a week. That's still a lovely amount of time to be getting in touch, especially if you have the whirlwind of the Beatlemania around you.
I loved when she said, “What was I going to do with a boy of 21 thrown back on my hands, qualified for NOTHING?!’ 😂 Practical wisdom right there lol. Glad it all worked out and that boy was totally over-qualified to do so many wonderfully creative things in his 40 years of life. We love you John and Aunt Mimi. ♥️
I certainly see why John said he couldn't wait to see Mimi.
What a treasure she was.
You get a good sense of her personality here. She seems non-fussy and very direct, yet still warm and with a good sense of humour. She didn't suffer fools gladly.
It speaks volumes that John was in continuous touch with her until the day he died.
"lonedrone" It makes me wonder who brought up Aunt Mimi
She was REAL, very comfortable in her own skin. I think John got a lot of his wit and directness from her.
Don't be fooled by Mimi's posthumous relationship with John. She outlived John by eleven years and had plenty of times to depict herself in a different light than how she actually was. She berated him verbally and physically for as long as they lived together. When John bought a coat for Cynthia and a chicken for Mimi after returning from Hamburg, she had an outburst, screamed at John to get out of her house, disparaged Cynthia by calling her a "gangster's moll," and hurled a hand mirror at him. She wouldn't even let him hug her, often rebuking him by saying things like "Get away, go on with you." He became a pent-up ball of frustration because of his upbringing with her, having trust and self-image issues for the rest of his life. His self-destructive way of dealing with confrontation or stress, to run away and shut himself away, was also pounded into him by Mimi. She rarely discussed tragedy, and forced John to bottle his emotions by never reciprocating his grief, particularly after his mother's death. She never gave him the approval he desperately searched for, which was likely an impetus for his success. John himself told Cynthia that Mimi never left him alone and found fault with everything he did. She belittled his passions, his music, and even his friends: George Harrison recalled that Mimi would insult his appearance whenever he walked in the house. Even an ounce of support would have meant the world for John, but she almost never gave it in his lifetime.
None of the Beatles suffered fools gladly either and could spot them a mile away, including John, Paul and George.
ToxicTurtle907 any evidence?
She was his anchor to his old life, and to someone in his life that gave instead of took from him. I've heard stories about John practically begging her to accept gifts because she really didn't care about that-- she just loved him as a son. Great lady!
This is true! Integrity! He knew he loved her (and vice versa)
@Dr. killpatient I've heard that whereas Yoko usually was right by John's side as they walked, on THIS night, she had scurried far ahead. So she was nowhere near the hail of bullets.
@@charwest9449 convenient. She wanted him out of the way because of the guy she was having an affair with at the time
@@jj9749 Have you noticed how similar Yoko looks to Courtney Love. AND they're never pictured together... Just saying.
Aunt Mimi was always one of my favorite Beatle people. She was never going to run for office. She just said it like it was. Everyone else around John seemed like they were afraid of Yoko except Aunt Mimi.
A tough lady, but she has a kindness and warm heart in her voice. John loved his auntie Mimi and it's easy to understand why.
Mimi made the Beatles, with her rough edge that rubbed off on John which went on to counter Paul's fluffy side.
Thank you, Mimi.
she reminds me a lot of Johns sarcastic but slightly mean side haha I love it
When she used the term 'soft-soaper' i.e. a person who often does insincere flattery/brown-noser in order to get something, the only time I recall hearing that phrase was in the John Lennon song 'Gimme Some Truth' with the line: "No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me with just a pocketful of hope". It may have been a commonly used phrase at the time but it could be a phrase that Lennon heard from Mimi.
she kinda reminds me of Roger Waters for some reason. lol
kewkabe John looks like his father. The talent came from the father & John should have been nicer to him.
jay khajuria I had no clue that you were a geneticist and biologist.
'I don't think of him as dead' well said Mimi his spirit lives on
who's here after nowhere boy
Yess me 😀
She was very articulate and intelligent.
I wish there were more aunt mini videos interviews, could listen to her stories for hours.
There aren't any Aunt Mimi videos because John had zero relationship with her and she is just making shit up. She was mean to him and I don't believe she was the one to buy him a guitar either. And asking her to live in New York is the biggest lie of all. Yoko wouldn't even let John see his own son let alone an old mean Aunt.
Pat Stokes calm down. just because ur jealous doesn’t mean you have to put Mimi in such a bad way. she was a loving aunt and you’re just jealous cuse u were probably brought up in a childs home
Please don't feed the trolls. :)
There was an interview with her on a plane during one of the Beatles tour. czcams.com/video/nEeyVtBrpTQ/video.html
John is the Best.... Srdjan, Belgrade, Serbia
“If I thought he was dead I wouldn’t go on. I don’t think of him as dead.” That exactly how I feel about my mom. If I really believed she was a light that went out, I wouldn’t go on. The existence and all that makes someone a something can’t just end.
A remarkable woman who came from a simpler time when people didn't need much to be content. Full of wit and wisdom. You can tell these qualities were family traits
God bless her. She seemed wonderful - a straight-talker, and so composed during this interview. I'm glad John had someone to love and support him as child/young man.
Also his uncle George.
She is lovely. Behind every great man is a great woman. Never a better example of that saying.
Ren Ja
Behind every SUCCESSFUL man, is an EXHAUSTED woman....
@@dennysmith4396 Then he dies and the 'Exhausted' woman has a good kip and starts to Spend Spend Spend.
She's a typical straight talking Northern women a product of that time. Tough but caring and loving
I hope she and John had a wonderful reunion when she joined him. How sad life can be. It never ceases to amaze me. You're here one moment and gone the next.
Sure, Both were met up again in heaven.
It’s terrifying, isn’t it?
According to her carer at the time of her death, Mimi's last words were "Hello, John", so he probably did greet her on the other side.
No such thing as an afterlife. Both John and Mary no longer exist.
I hope she said ‘that’s enough thank you’.
I think I could have spent a week guessing and not come up with "A Hard Day's Night" as Mimi's favorite Lennon composition.
I was expecting her to say "In My Life".
I thought she was going to slip and say “Yesterday” or “Michelle”…one of Paul’s songs.
Knew her when she lived at sandbanks. She was lovely bless her.
No you never.
robin carter How cool for you!
How do you know Robin never knew her? Do you think that she had always lived in isolation where no average person knew her except the rich and famous?
@@goodwolfbadwolf2844 because we have common sense
Well that’s no answer, a little arrogant. It wasn’t like she was a big celebrity living in some millionaire retreat somewhere with John whilst he was growing up. John became rich and famous, and a lot more isolating a lot later on. She was just a normal everyday common woman raising a wayward working class lad sending him to a normal school, living on a normal common housing estate in a big city which houses many thousands of other equally normal folk like us. Pretty hard to remain totally unknown to the normal common person. Common sense. What makes you think she is somebody no normal person would ever have known? Just because she raised John? Again, they lived on a common housing estate amongst many common people. They knew as many common everyday people just as much as maybe you and me.
What a caring, grounded soul. She gave a legend love and a bit of discipline and wings to grow.
Heaven bless the Mums and Aunties of the world.
( I'm UK based, was a musician, and I'm of his generation) It is very interesting to see and hear this. Several things come to mind, not all of them obvious to U.S.A. people: the first thing is that she's very clearly " middle class" , which in the U.K. means something different to " middle class" in the U.S.A. She comes from a " management/ higher education/ supervisary" background. Which John Lennon did. Secondly she regards herself as having had sole care of John from babyhood. But John's half sisters and brothers saw it differently. They say thst he was mostly with his mother till he was 5. Both versions may be true. John's mother struggled in life, and in her personal relationships, and Aunt Mimi was a source of strength.
I love her.John was a good boy.He loved his Aunt Mimi.He listened to her .She kept him in line.
i absolutely ADORE this woman!! She is amazing. What a lady!!
I've read so much about Mimi in the various biographies and she always seems rather severe and, while it's clear she wouldn't suffer fools gladly, this interview really brings out her sense of humour. And it's obvious there was an unbreakable bond of love between her and John.
Inside and out, she seemed a most beautiful person.
"What was John like?"
"A bit like yourself, a soft soaper!"
I had to Google this unknown phrase and it is brilliant;
a person who flatters or cajoles, especially for reasons of self-interest or personal advantage: a soft-soaper specializing in rich, elderly women.
That's the first time I get to hear her voice. She's got a nice accent. I must say.
It's similar to my wives who grew up in the same posh part of Liverpool. It's an accent within a 2km area.
@@paulgallacher5384 Remember Sandra from The Liver Birds? She had a posh Liverpool accent. Her mum was a bit of a snob. She called her daughter, Sarndra.
@@paulgallacher5384 Almost has a Welsh tinge to it.
@@LerafoLuap
Sounds a slight touch of Irish to me
@@LerafoLuap Her mother's family, the Stanley's were Welsh.
I love this woman. How literate, witty, and charming as can be! John was blessed to grow up with Aunt Mimi.
My Grandmother was just like Mimi , I never realized how special she was until she was gone and it was too late . Thank you Nanny for all you did for me .
Probably the only woman who loved John unconditionally....
Such A Strong Lady..!...She is the woman behind Lennon's success not Yoko or any other woman...A strong Lady Like her is needed in every Man's life..
She was a cold hearthed woman, people defenition of strong is very strange,you can be loving,caring and strong she was'nt like that
@angelicagonzalez1407 ahhh u knew her did u?
She seemed stern but fair and very stereotypical British. Probably one of the few that could keep John in line. My parents were the same way. Unfortunately today, parents give in too much and the kids run the households. The fact that John was gone from Britain for a long time, she was able to get over his death by thinking that he was still alive in America. That probably helped her immensely until her death. She too was a true Rock Star. RIP
One of the few people John could count on for any sense of order, stability and genuine uncompromising love. Without her, we may not have had the John and Beatles we knew.
This woman is awesome. You can tell she suffered no fools and didn't take shit from anyone.
Thank you for posting this video! I was very fortunate to have known Mimi from 1974 until she passed away. She was a wonderful person and this video of her movements and voice brought back so many memories. SHE was John's biggest fan!
How did she manage to cope with his killing/death? Was her husband alive?
@@peaceandlove544 no her husband passed when John was a teen
Love the pause when asked about yoko, silence speaks a thousand words
Im guessing she was just trying to remember. I don’t think it was too serious
It was like her whole tone changed for a moment when she started talking about Yoko...and then the robust laughter when she said ‘I never heard of you’ lol!! 😂
Exactly
What pause?
@@Dan-nt2yb your the only 1 who doesnt pick up on that & the quick look on her face
Mimi was tough but loving, and that's what John needed.
She sees the humour in everything. Just like John.
What a delightful lady! No wonder they were so close.
Beautiful woman. He was lucky to have her.
Well that broke my heart 😢 what a strong women
I love this! So fascinating to see this side of John. She was the perfect person to remind him of reality. What a very important relationship. She says she couldn’t go on if she believed he were dead. How many fans feel the same way? That’s how I feel. He lives on.
What a wonderful and charming woman! No wonder John loved her so!
Tra La Not really, he loved her, but he felt that she hated him
Rigby did he told you this personally? Lol
You think-? She strikes me as an unhinged, terrifying crone with a horrifying nightmare smoker’s laugh that she’s cackle as she whips you with a switch.
NicoSlash2011 Cynthia Lennon did in her book. She was never lovely person
Rip Mimi
Ya gotta love her!
I loved it when she said “i’ve never heard of her…”. About Yoko the “artist”.
John really loved Mimi.
She did a good job as mother. Well done Mimi😊.
It had been 10 year's since he left England at the time of his death. Thankfully since they never saw each other in person again, John called her on the phone weakly until his death.
"A guitar is all well and good John, but you will never make a living at it" Bless her heart.
Great woman.
Clever and kind.
Thank God he had her love & guidance when he was young, what a great lady!!
How mind blowing it is that the legendary "Mimi", John's virtual "Mum" and an ancient adult figure when you were a kid of 13 in 1964 and a total Beatle freak - outlives John by 11 years. Just crazy.
cuda426hemi not true, she outlived him by 34 years.
no, she died in 1991, he died in 1980
CrustyJoe age
Looks to me like Mimi was John's "Help" for his entire life. Kept him grounded.
John is our hero and Mimi is right up there too. Over the years I've thought deeply about the tragedy John underwent of losing his Uncle George (Mimi's husband and a great father figure to John) , of reuniting with his mother Julia (Mimi's younger sister), then losing her so suddenly in that road accident outside their house while still only 18 or so.
Just imagine how Mimi must've looked after John at that time, all that trauma on her shoulders. Then for John to have the strength to continue song-writing and performing with, as they were then, The Quarrymen.
The rest is commom knowledge as The Beatles gained popularity across the world in a ridiculously short space of time and weren't we just so bloody lucky to have them in our lives ....
John loved Mimi (she was effectively his mother growing up) and she loved him. He kept in touch with Mimi till the end long after he had lost touch with any of his other relatives.
You can tell she really loved him.
Lovely to know John kept in regular contact with Mimi and i shed a tear when she told how the last time they spoke was only the night before he was murdered.
Mimi made an excellent mother subsitute. She had a good heart, no nonsense and spoke her mind without as much edge as John. Without her John would most likely have been completely un-tethered.
I thought the fabled Aunt Mimi was very disappointing. No real sense of humour, rude to John's partners (she hated his first wife Cynthia, as well as Yoko) and she laughs as she recounts telling the young John to give up the guitar as there was no career in it. She clearly didn't believe in his talent! She hardly mentions his death, then a year ago - weird.
Google Mimi for more details - a strange lady and that's putting it mildly! In the sixties John set up a generous monthly income for her. When she heard he had done the same for his wife Cynthia's mother, Mimi was livid and slammed the phone down on him! She was also angry after John's death, to discover the beautiful house he had bought her at Sandbanks was not in her name, therefore Yoko wound up owning it, as sole heir. Mimi said she feared Yoko would sell it and evict her - but obviously she didn't. Quite apart from being far too rich to bother selling it, Yoko knew how important Mimi was to John. There was no question of her evicting the old lady who had raised her husband! Seems Mimi judged others by her own standards...
Some people like to paint Mimi as a discouraging snob but this is not the impression I get. Listening to her talk is like listening to my own grandma Lol, very frank and down to earth!
I would believe Cynthia's version of events before I would accept Mimi's plastic tales.
@@stanibol wtf
There’s no doubt that she loved John very much. His murder must have absolutely devastated her and it’s amazing that she carried on for another decade!
After all is said and done, John was lucky cause he was brought up by Mimi the greatest. Love you two.
We all need an Aunt Mimi to keep us grounded.
After seeing Nowhere boy, this is so pleasing to watch
Mimi: "What Aunt Mimi has, is photographs, letters, peices of memories that are beyond price."
Yoko: "Lets sell all of John's things! They are worth a good price!"
(-_-) Aunt Mimi shows what real love is.
God bless her soul. Her tireless maternal work helped mold John into the man he was.
what a sweet person she is!
nothing as strong as an ironwillied northern bird.
Rip john Lennon and Cynthia lennon
+Anna Brown And Mimi
+John Armstrong sí los 3 :c los amo, Mimi dijo que le hubiese gustado que Cyn y John regresasen... Pobre tía Mimi, sus últimas palabras fueron Hola John :'(
+Danaé Vidal y que dijo de yoko ?
por favor algún alma caritativaa que traduzca esto .
No le caía no ves en la entrevista? como opina de ella? Al final se dio cuenta que Cynthia era la mujer que necesitaba John en esos momentos :3
Thanks to Aunt Mimi for taking care of John and buying a guitar and changed the world. Great that we can still see her on a video. ❤️ 08:00 "I don't think of him as dead" Aunt Mary Elizabeth
Such a beautiful lady .. John was lucky to have her in his life 💗
Mimi is so cool. You can see him in her. Intelligent, strong, humorous. Very touching when she said ‘I don’t think of him as dead. If I did, I couldn’t go on,’.
John was very fortunate. Everyone needs an aunt Mimi in their life 💖
Lovely interview. Mimi was certainly a chracter and obviously loved John and vice versa.
I have read so many biographies on John and Mimi is portrayed as very stern but she seems like she was able to laugh easily. She always wanted children and John was a blessing to her because of that.
I feel Kristin Scott Thomas played her brilliantly in “Nowhere Boy”.
I can see where John got his conmbination of directness and humour