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How old was Sean Lennon when John was shot? Beatles legend shares birthday with son

Yoko Ono posted a pic on Twitter that showed John and Sean simultaneously blowing out candles on a birthday cake

October 9 this year marks what would have been the 81st birthday of legendary Beatles singer John Lennon. While tributes for the musician continue to pour in on various social media platforms, many fans might not realize the fact that it is also his son Sean Lennon's birthday. 

Sean turned 46 today - an occasion which was celebrated by his mother and John's second wife, Yoko Ono via a Twitter post that showed a picture of John and Sean simultaneously blowing out candles on a birthday cake. "Happy Birthday John! Happy Birthday Sean! I love you! yoko #HappyBirthdayJohnLennon@johnlennon #HappyBirthdaySeanLennon@seanonolennon," she captioned the picture. 

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Sean was 5 years old when his father died

Sean was born on his rockstar father's 35th birthday. He is the only child of the founding member of the iconic English rock band. After Sean's birth, John quit the music business and became a house husband. He doted on his young son until he was assassinated in 1980. John was shot by a deranged fan, Mark Chapman, outside the Dakota, an apartment building in Manhattan where the Lennons lived. Lennon died almost immediately after arriving at what was then St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital.

Sean Lennon was 5 years old when his father died. John and Yoko had gone out and the Beatle had refused to stop somewhere for dinner on the way home because he wanted to tuck his son in for the night. In an interview with The RollingStone in 1998, Sean recalled vividly how his mother broke the news to him. He learned about his father's demise days after it had taken place.

“I didn’t find out until a few days later,” he said. “I remember it really clearly, someone saying my mom wants to talk to me. I had to go into the bedroom, and my mom was in bed. She’d obviously been in bed for days. I remember kind of glancing at a headline on a newspaper. I could barely read; I didn’t really know what it meant.”

'You don't really miss anything specific. You just miss them breathing'

Yoko, presumably in shock after witnessing her husband’s assassination delivered the news to her son in a straight manner, without sugarcoating it. "She said, ‘Your dad’s dead.’ She said it really straight up, like that: ‘He’s been killed.’ I remember really wanting to be mature about it for some reason. I said, ‘Don’t worry, mom, you’re still young. You’ll find somebody.’ Which was an intense thing to say, when I think about it. But that’s what I said. She’ll verify that. And she said, ‘Well, I’m glad you feel that way about it.’ Then I ran into my bedroom, because I didn’t want her to see me cry. I didn’t want to admit that it was hard," he recalled at the time. 

Sean also spoke to New York Magazine in the same year, saying, "I remember when my dad died. You don't really miss anything specific. You just miss them breathing, just being there. I miss the way his skin felt, the sound of his voice. Him tucking me in at night."