LONDON: A controversial new book about late Beatle John Lennon charges the musician was so convinced his widow Yoko Ono would be unfaithful, he forced her to remain at his side — even when he went to the bathroom. Author Philip Norman interviewed Ono for his biography about the star, entitled John Lennon: The Life.

Ono and Lennon’s former Beatles bandmate Sir Paul MCCartney have since both distanced themselves from the book, prompted by allegations made by the writer questioning Lennon’s heterosexuality and claiming he harboured sexual feelings for his mother.

But according to Norman, Ono recounted she was “deeply offended” by the musician’s first attempts at cheap romance, in interviews taken before she retracted her support of the book.

Norman recalls the rocky start of their relationship: “One of the Beatles’ entourage then drove the two of them to a nearby flat and, without preamble, began folding out a sofa into a bed. It was clearly an established procedure for John’s conquests.”

According to Ono, the pair quickly became infatuated with one another, prompting Lennon to constantly question her commitment to remain monogamous despite his own transgressions.

Ono reportedly tells Norman, “People said I followed him to the men’s room, but he made me go with him. He thought that if he left me alone with the other Beatles even for a minute, I might go off with one of them.”

Remembering one night Lennon cheated in her presence, she reportedly continues, “She didn’t come on to him at all, he just pulled her and went into the next room. And then they were groping and all that, and we were all quiet. Then one of the other guests was very kind and put a record on, Bob Dylan or something, so that we don’t hear it. But we heard it anyway. And everyone had their coats in the next room, where John and this girl are making out so nobody can go home.”