Cynthia Lennon
Kenwood
Lennon seemed absolutely normal when she returned home the next day, and steadfastly maintained his love for her and their son, saying: "It's you I love Cyn ... I love you now more than ever before". Lennon went to New York with McCartney shortly after, but as Cynthia was specifically not invited, a trip to Pesaro, in Italy, was arranged with her mother. After an evening with Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini, Mardas was waiting at the hotel to break the news that Lennon was planning to sue for divorce on grounds of adultery, seek sole custody of Julian, and "send her back to Hoylake". She said in 2005: "The mere fact that 'Magic Alex' [Mardas] arrived in Italy in the middle of the night without any prior knowledge of where I was staying made me extremely suspicious. I was being coerced into making it easy" ... [for Lennon and Ono] "to accuse me of doing something that would make them not look so bad." As Lennon had initiated divorce proceedings, it prompted her to exclaim: "Suing me for divorce? On what grounds is he suing me?" When the news of Ono's pregnancy broke, Cynthia started her own divorce proceedings against Lennon on 22 August 1968. The financial settlement was hampered by Lennon's refusing to offer any more than £75,000 (equivalent to £1,310,300 in 2020), telling her on the phone that the payment was akin to winning the football pools and that she was not worth any more. The settlement was then raised to £100,000 (equivalent to £1,747,000 in 2020), £2,400 annually (equivalent to £41,900 in 2020), and custody of Julian. Another £100,000 (equivalent to £1,747,000 in 2020) was put into a trust fund which Julian would inherit when he was 21. Until that time, his mother would receive the interest payments. Their decree nisi was granted on 8 November 1968. The trust fund had one codicil, which provided for any further children by Lennon, so when Sean Lennon was born in 1975, Julian's inheritance was cut to £50,000 (equivalent to £422,500 in 2020).
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