The punk icon, also known as Johnny Rotten, lost Forster in April 2023 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. The couple had been together for nearly 50 years, and Lydon spent the final two years of her life as her full-time carer.
Speaking in a new interview with The Times, Lydon said he expected at least a small gesture from his old bandmates following her passing — but none came.
“I expected some kind of connection when Nora died, but nothing,” he said, referring to guitarist Steve Jones, bassist Glen Matlock, and drummer Paul Cook.
Before her death, Lydon had spoken openly and emotionally about how Forster’s illness changed him. He described caring for her as life-altering, saying it reshaped his understanding of pain and loss.
“All the things I thought were the ultimate agony seem preposterous now,” he said at the time. “It’s shaped me into what I am. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. I don’t see how I can live without her.”
Tensions between Lydon and the rest of the Sex Pistols have been simmering for years, and they intensified when the band reunited without him. The group returned to the stage with former Gallows frontman Frank Carter taking over vocal duties.
Lydon has been blunt about how he feels about the reunion, describing it as “malicious” and dismissing it as little more than karaoke. He questioned why his former bandmates hadn’t written new material after decades in the music industry.
“It’s a dumbing down of all the integrity, intensity, genuine honesty and heartfelt emotion I put into that band,” he said in May.
Still, Lydon offered faint praise for Carter himself, saying he believed the singer approached the role “in the right spirit,” even while insisting that no one could replace him as Johnny Rotten.
The Sex Pistols and Carter played a run of shows at London’s Bush Hall last year and have since toured the UK and other countries. Matlock has hinted that the band has ideas for new music, though nothing has been finalized. Jones, meanwhile, has downplayed the idea, suggesting that creativity often fades with age.
As for Lydon, he remains focused on his post-Pistols group Public Image Ltd., which is currently touring the UK on an extension of its This Is Not The Last Tour.
While the rift between Lydon and his former bandmates shows no signs of healing, his latest comments make clear that the lack of personal support after his wife’s death still cuts the deepest.
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