John Lennon and Yoko Ono were « obsessed » with staying thin, according to a new book.
Elliot Mintz, a former radio and television host who went on to become a publicist and entertainment correspondent, wrote about Lennon and Ono in his book « John, Yoko, & Me, » and in doing so, he revealed just how much importance the former couple placed on their weight.
Mintz, who first met Ono during an interview and who later befriended Lennon as well, spoke with People about the book, and he explained that they were « obsessed with staying skinny, » adding that « John kept a journal where each day he would write what his weight was. »
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John Lennon and Yoko Ono outside their Central Park residence, The Dakota, after a night in the recording studio in New York City in December 1980. (Getty Images)
« They thought that everybody in Hollywood was slim and trim and that there were magic diet pills, » he said, « and insisted I get that for them. »
In the book, obtained by Fox News Digital, he recalled Lennon calling him once at 4 a.m. to ask him to procure the pills because he’d heard that Mintz had taken them. Mintz explained that he hadn’t taken pills, but that he’d gotten weight-loss injections, and Lennon asked him to get those for him instead.
« Their refrigerator was like going into this pit of curiosity. »
He said that Lennon told him, « I’m just looking to appear fit. Can you call around and see if you can get me the injections? Would you do that for me? »
Mintz wrote that Lennon and Ono were both « obsessed » with being thin. (Getty)
Mintz learned later on that Lennon had « struggled his whole life » with his weight, writing that, « He used to joke that back when they filmed ‘Help!’ he was in his ‘fat Elvis’ period: he was very self-conscious about that and took it very seriously. He’d tried every fad diet in the world and was clearly open to any other new weight-loss methods that came along. »
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He claimed that Ono was « equally fixated with her weight, » to the point that they organized their walk-in closet « according to their fluctuating sizes, with department store-style clothing carousels numbered by their waist measurements. »
The Beatles, from left, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, pose together, circa 1965. (Getty Images)
Mintz told People, « They kept their various jeans and pantsuits, whatever it might be, in different categories of waist size, 28 [inches] reaching to 32 or so, depending on how they perceived their weight and how tight the pants fit. »
In his book, Mintz remembered the first time he met Lennon and Ono in person – they were staying in a home in Ojai, a town north of Los Angeles, and they invited him to visit them there.
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He was hungry, and he wrote that Lennon told him to help himself to whatever was in the kitchen, but when he opened the refrigerator, he saw « nothing discernibly edible – just a few bottles of water and some containers filled with unidentifiable and unappetizing-looking substances that I presumed to be health food of some sort. »
John Lennon and Yoko Ono on Nov. 2, 1980 – the first time in five years that Lennon had been photographed professionally and the last comprehensive photo shoot of his life. (Jack Mitchell/Getty Images)
Mintz had previously claimed that both Lennon and Ono were withdrawing from methadone and that one of the side effects of that is loss of appetite, but he noted that he later learned that it was « a perennial issue, » explaining, « They had unconventional tastes and seldom kept anything that appeared appetizing in their refrigerators. »
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He told People, « Their refrigerator was like going into this pit of curiosity. There were sometimes these paper containers, suggesting there were leftovers from the night before, and you would open the container and look in and still not be able to identify what they were eating. »
