Sex Pistols star John Lydon reveals he is now full-time carer for his wife, who has Alzheimer’s

Public Image Ltd frontman has been married to Nora since 1979

Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon has revealed that he is now the full-time carer for his wife Nora, who suffers from Alzheimer’s.

Lydon, formerly known by his stage name Johnny Rotten, publicly revealed Nora’s illness in 2018, and has now told The Mirror that her condition has declined.

“I am her full-time carer and I won’t let anyone mess up with her head,” he explained. “For me the real person is still there. That person I love is still there every minute of every day and that is my life. It’s unfortunate that she forgets things, well, don’t we all?”

He continued: “I suppose her condition is one of like a permanent hangover for her. It gets worse and worse, bits of the brain store less and less memory and then suddenly some bits completely vanish.”

Lydon and Nora, a publishing heiress, married in 1979. In 2000, the couple became legal guardians of twin boys born to Nora’s musician daughter Ari Up, also known as Ariane Forster.

Upon Forster’s death in 2010, Lydon and his wife became legal guardians of her third child.

Lydon, who has lived in Los Angeles since the 1980s, also said that coronavirus had dented his income. His band, Public Image Ltd, were forced to cancel a tour that would have occurred this summer.

“There’s been no income so I am f***ing furious,” he said. “None of this, let me tell you, I don’t care how communist you believe you are, none of it works without a penny in the bank.”