In a new interview with Goldmine, May Pang said John Lennon didn’t take himself too seriously.
“What people don’t realize about John [is that] he was actually more shy than most people would think, you know?” Pang said when asked what people have misunderstood about Lennon for years. “He loved to be with people, but he was introverted. He didn’t take himself as a big superstar.”
She continued, “He knew he was, you know, you just know it, but you don’t take yourself that seriously. I remember we were sitting there, we were watching television, and an advert came on, and it said the legendary Eric Clapton. And he says, ‘Boy, that’s tough, because I couldn’t live up to that.’ I said, ‘Live up to what?’ And he said, ‘Legendary.'”
“And I’m looking at John going, ‘You don’t think you’re a legend?'” Pang said before sharing John’s response. “He goes, ‘Oh no, not me. I’m not that.’ He didn’t take himself that serious. He had no idea, in one way. He knew he was famous in another way, if we were out there, he’d go, ‘Yes, I know I am.’ But he didn’t take himself like that at home or say, ‘I am John Lennon.’ He’ll say it when you need to, I guess, when we’re out and about and people are at you.”
Pang and Lennon were together for more than 18 months. “That was in ’73. That’s fifty years ago,” Pang said about her relationship with Lennon and how Yoko Ono offered her to be with the singer. “I know it sounds wild, but it’s fifty years ago. You know, I’m sitting in the office, thinking – I hadn’t had my first cup of coffee – ‘What is she saying to me?’ So, this whole thing happened, and I’m sitting there going, ‘But I don’t want him.'”
May added, “Now, when you work for somebody, you know their dynamics. I don’t wanna get in the mix of this. I’m fine with my job. I’m sitting behind the desk. I’m fine. You know, working in the studio or whatever else. And she kept saying, ‘I think it would be good for him.’ I’m saying no, and then she walks out of the room. She goes, ‘I think you should,’ and that’s how it started.”
Pang wrote two books about her time with Lennon: a memoir called ‘Loving John’ and a photo book called ‘Instamatic Karma.’ A documentary about their relationship, ‘The Lost Weekend: A Love Story,’ arrived in 2022.
