The Fat Beatle

Okay this has prolly been talked about I don't know how many times on here but as it goes...I am bringing it up again.

Y'know how back '65 or '66 I can't remember which, that there was some thing in the paper where a reporter had called John "The Fat Beatle".

Now, I've read in a few books that John had a severe problem with his weight after he read or heard this comment for some years after.

The book that seemed to take this issue and run with it (like it did with all of John's issues) was of course our favourite book (sarcasm, of course)
"The lives of John Lennon".

I just wanted to get some opinions on this here cause I dunno if I believe that he had such an incredible problem as this book and others have said, but than again I dunno I wasn't there. haha

So what you all think... do you think that John was indeed neurotic enough to go anorexic or bulemic or whatever these books have said. I mean I know he was neurotic, like us all. But to that degree?

Just a question all.

Side note On Dr. Winnie: While reading "The Lives Of John Lennon" at the age of 13, Dr. Winnie was known to throw the book across her room when she read something that offended her.......good ol' teenage hormones, eh?
Needless to say, that book is still in pieces. Ha!

Doctah Winnie

I think John got a bit chubby around 65 but I wouldn't call him fat.

Leave it to the media to say something stupid. They're experts at it.

I agree.

Didn't John himself refer to those years as his "Fat Elvis" period ?

I wouldn't have said he was fat, I think he probably had a tendency to gain weight and probably would have been a bigger in his older years, i mean Sean isn't skinny but he isn't fat either and I think John would have been the same but the strict veggie diet and the drugs in the late 60's and early 70's kept him thin.

Either way John was John and what he looked like didn't make the slightest bit of difference as far as I am concerned and i really hope he didn't worry about it.

Originally Posted by Sally

I wouldn't have said he was fat, I think he probably had a tendency to gain weight and probably would have been a bigger in his older years, i mean Sean isn't skinny but he isn't fat either and I think John would have been the same but the strict veggie diet and the drugs in the late 60's and early 70's kept him thin.

Either way John was John and what he looked like didn't make the slightest bit of difference as far as I am concerned and i really hope he didn't worry about it.

Same thing for "my guy", Roy Orbison. He'd sometimes get a bit more "plump" but, in his case, weight losses or gains could be attributed to the tragedies he went through... for instance, after going through extensive open-heart surgery, his weight seem to go way down for a couple of years.

But, like you said, it makes no difference to me (though it is hard to see him on some footage, appearing a bit frail...)

Originally Posted by ABCKO

Same thing for "my guy", Roy Orbison. He'd sometimes get a bit more "plump" but, in his case, weight losses or gains could be attributed to the tragedies he went through... for instance, after going through extensive open-heart surgery, his weight seem to go way down for a couple of years.

But, like you said, it makes no difference to me (though it is hard to see him on some footage, appearing a bit frail...)

I saw an old film of RO singing Pretty Woman, not sure how old he was but he looked old and frail!

john was nuts for thinking that he was fat
at at the time of his departure he was bone thin and his skin looked horrible poor guy
I have my insecurities too we are all human

Originally Posted by twovirgins

john was nuts for thinking that he was fat
at at the time of his departure he was bone thin and his skin looked horrible poor guy
I have my insecurities too we are all human

I actually thought he looked alot older than 40 when he died.

I never thought he looked "fat" in Help, but then I've always liked my guys just a touch on the heavier side than stick skinny.

Well, to me, John seemed to be kind of self-conscious about his appearance to begin with. I always thought it was a little funny when I looked at pictures of the Beatles in Miami--there are a couple where the boys are lounging around the pool, and three of them have on little shorts and tees while John has on a big black sweatshirt and a towel around his waist! Somebody like that would probably take a comment about his weight a little too much to heart.

Sure, he may not have been a buff, bronzed surf god, but I never would have called him fat. Maybe a little on the pudgy side, at one point, but then again I always thought that was kind of cute in a man.

A person does not need to be "neurotic" to be anorexic. I was (anorexic, that is), or I am, and still dealing with it.

Looking at pictures of John right before his death...the dull, lank hair, the greyish skin, his unnaturally skinny frame, I'd say he suffered from some sort of eating disorder.

Originally Posted by LovinLennon909

A person does not need to be "neurotic" to be anorexic. I was (anorexic, that is), or I am, and still dealing with it.

Well I didn't mean it in that way... cause I lost alot of weight becuase of some medication, and people were calling me anorexic and all that, not sure if I was underweight enough to qualify though. But as for John I was thinking of his neurosis like um......."Oh god they called me fat.... what will I do? Am I fat? Oh no!"
Along those lines or something...I don't know what the dear was thinking though.
I Hope I did not offend.

Winnie

Originally Posted by Sally

I actually thought he looked alot older than 40 when he died.

Yeah, I agree with that.
It's pretty sad, I've read in books he wasn't being to good to himself...but who are they to say, y'know.
But in any case yes he looked somewhat, Tired. He looked very tired.
I wouldn't say haggard, like really old. Just tired and stressed.

Winnie

Originally Posted by Sally

I saw an old film of RO singing Pretty Woman, not sure how old he was but he looked old and frail!

That would be circa 1978-1979, just after his, triple bypass, heart operation.

... but within a year or two after that, he looked fine...

Originally Posted by Sally

I actually thought he looked alot older than 40 when he died.

I dunno, with the mop-top he'd gown back, I thought he looked very 1965-1966-ish, just before he passed away.

Originally Posted by MonaMe577

Well, to me, John seemed to be kind of self-conscious about his appearance to begin with. I always thought it was a little funny when I looked at pictures of the Beatles in Miami--there are a couple where the boys are lounging around the pool, and three of them have on little shorts and tees while John has on a big black sweatshirt and a towel around his waist! Somebody like that would probably take a comment about his weight a little too much to heart.

I don't think John was that self-concious, and mean think of all of pranks like the time he stuck a sanitary pad on his forehead...

Originally Posted by ABCKO

I don't think John was that self-concious, and mean think of all of pranks like the time he stuck a sanitary pad on his forehead...

He was incredibly pissed (means drunk here), at the time

I have read that after that "fat Beatle" comment, John did develop a bit of complex about his weight...and remember, what other people see and what you see in the mirror can be drastically different things. Those of you who have had or know people who have had anorexia can vouch for that -- many anorexics are nothing but skin and bones and yet see a "fat" person in the mirror...and I can tell you that when *I* look in the mirror, I see a person who's a lot skinnier than I have been in many years. So who knows how John perceived himself after that comment?

John was a very insecure person -- although I am sure that he knew deep in his heart that he WAS that handsome, sexy, attractive man everyone said he was, I would be willing to bet that he didn't always believe it in his HEAD. Does that make any sense?

I do agree that at the time of his death he was too skinny. He had gone on that macrobiotic diet, remember. I've heard and read from various sources that he did sometimes "use food as a weapon," refuse to eat, eat things he liked and then feel guilty about it (e.g., chocolate, apparently he was a major chocoholic but felt guilty after he ate it) and stuff like that. Frankly, whether it was consciously an eating disorder or not, it sure manifests like one!

Even though I've heard from various people & from John himself that he was getting chubby, i've never ever noticed it! yeah i guess he was a little bigger in help than AHDN, but i noticed so much as a hint of a beer belly or double chin thing going on....He almost always looked good to me, especially that 65-66 range so i dont know, maybe i'm just unobservant