The Lives of John Lennon released to the public. Lennon's widow Yoko Ono threatened to sue for libel, claiming the book made her briefly consider suicide, but never pursued any legal action, later explaining that she wanted to maintain a positive attitude and that her lawyers had advised her a civil action would only draw more attention to the book. Lennon's first wife Cynthia Lennon denounced the book, stating "Every single person was annihilated. My mother was called a bulldog and a domineering woman, which was nothing—"nothing"—like my mother. And he called "me" a spaniel. I thought, I'd rather be a spaniel than a Rottweiler,
Murder of John Lennon Murder of John Lennon John Lennon was an English musician who gained worldwide fame as a member of the Beatles, for his subsequent solo career, and for his political activism and pacifism. On the evening of Monday, 8 December 1980, Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman in the archway of the Dakota, his residence in New York City. Lennon had just returned from Record Plant Studio with his wife, Yoko Ono. After sustaining four major gunshot wounds, Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital. Shortly after local news stations reported Lennon's death, crowds gathered at