When the notorious Johnny Rotten (aka John Lydon) appeared on the fledgling punk rock scene decades ago as the frontman for the Sex Pistols, he didn’t appear as a likely candidate for being fully committed to a 44-year marriage.
Instead, he was public enemy No. 1 in Great Britain and was routinely denounced by politicians. He brutally mocked the monarchy in “God Save the Queen” and stirred a cauldron of teenage discontent with songs such as “Anarchy in the U.K.” and “Pretty Vacant.” His band savored unhinged chaos at their shows, and Rotten declared his intention to destroy everything.
Rolling Stone’s 1977 story on the band began by invoking a biblical notation: “Instead of perfume here will be rottenness” (Isaiah 3:24). “Rotten is perhaps the most captivating performer I’ve ever seen,” reported Charles M. Young. “He really doesn’t do that much besides snarl and be hunchbacked; it’s the eyes that kill you. They don’t pierce, they bludgeon.”
In the midst of that era’s mayhem, Lydon fell head over stilettos for Nora Forster, the woman who would capture his heart. At the age of 80, she died on April 6. They had been married since 1979. “The first time I met Nora, everyone told her not to talk to me because I was completely horrible,” Lydon (67) said with a smirk in an interview with Irish TV. “We ended up laughing and loving each other.”
Public attention to celebrity matrimony is often more focused on prenuptial agreements than on “in sickness
