John Lennon and Yoko Ono Were 'Obsessed With Their Weight' Says A Close Friend (Exclusive)

Few people were closer to John Lennon and Yoko Ono than Elliot Mintz.

The former radio and TV announcer from Los Angeles first met the couple in the early 1970s after interviewing Ono about her album, Fly, the beginning of an unlikely friendship with the pair that lasted almost a decade until Lennon’s murder at the age of 40 on December 8, 1980.

Mintz, 79, who now works as a media consultant, has always been extremely close to Ono, 91, and in turn, their son Sean Lennon, 49. For the first time, it reveals new details about who the legendary couple were really as in the new memoir: We all shine: John Yoko and me.

‘We All Shine On’ by Elliot Mintz.

Dutton

One of the surprising revelations is that the rock ‘n roll couple was “obsessed with staying thin,” notes Mintz.

“John kept a diary in which he would write down his weight every day,” he says. “Yoko and John had endless questions about this topic.” Lennon once even called Mintz at 4 a.m. and asked him to find “diet pills.”

John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Relationship: A Look Back

“They thought everyone in Hollywood was slim and trim and there was a magic diet pill,” says Mintz, “and they insisted I get it for them.” Mintz didn’t deliver, much to their dismay.

Although the couple always seemed quite thin, Mintz describes their rotating racks of clothes, “like a boutique in Manhattan,” organized “by waist size,” he says, “and a big ladder that wraps around to reach the higher boxes.”

John Lennon and Yoko Ono at London Airport in 1969.

Evening Standard/Getty

There were, he adds, “hundreds of items of clothing, including dozens and dozens of hats and glasses.”

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“They kept their various jeans and pantsuits, whatever it was, in different categories of waist size, 28 [inches] reaching 32 or so, depending on how they felt about their weight and how tight their pants were.” he notes.

Mintz also recalls how their refrigerator was often full of what he called “unrecognizable” health foods.

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“Their refrigerator was like entering this pit of curiosity,” Mintz tells PEOPLE with a smile. “Sometimes there would be these paper containers, which suggested there were leftovers from the night before, and you’d open the container and look inside and you still wouldn’t be able to tell what they were eating.”

However, there was “a lot of water” in the house.

John Lennon, Yoko Ono and their friend Elliot Mintz.

Courtesy of Elliot Mintz

“Before John learned to cook, they were a bit thin in the nutrition department,” he admits. “And Yoko, with all due respect, is no good at the stove.”

It’s just one of many stories about an intriguing couple that continues to capture our imaginations. As Mintz explains about his upcoming book, “This is not a love song for John and Yoko. For those looking for something cheesy, that’s not here either,” he adds. “What I know best is an honest, first-person account of what it was like to spend almost a decade of my life with them, and now, more than 50 years with Yoko.”

We are all shining: John, Yoko and me Elliot Mintz is out on October 22 and is available for pre-order now, wherever books are sold.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education