John Lennon's first wife Cynthia died today aged 75 at her home in Spain following a short battle with cancer.
A message on her son Julian's website said he was at her beside throughout, and the family 'are thankful for your prayers'.
Cynthia Lennon, nee Powell, married Lennon in 1962 and stayed with him as he rose to global stardom with The Beatles until the couple divorced in 1968.
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'Please respect their privacy at this difficult time.'
This afternoon Lennon's former bandmate Ringo Starr tweeted: 'Peace and love to Julian Lennon God bless Cynthia love Ringo and Barbara xx.'
Sir Paul McCartney said: 'The news of Cynthia's passing is very sad. She was a lovely lady who I've known since our early days together in Liverpool.
'She was a good mother to Julian and will be missed by us all but I will always have great memories of our times together.'
Yoko Ono also wrote a message on her website paying tribute to Cynthia, with a picture of the two women and their sons.
She captioned the picture: 'When we were very happy together.'
In her message she wrote: 'I'm very saddened by Cynthia's death. She was a great person and a wonderful mother to Julian.
'She had such a strong zest for life and I felt proud how we two women stood firm in the Beatles family.
'Please join me in sending love and support to Julian at this very sad time. Love, Yoko Ono.'
John Lennon and Cynthia met at college and married just as Lennon's career with The Beatles propelled him to fame.
Julian also tweeted a picture of his mother, who was 75, inside a heart with the message 'In Loving Memory'.
He also posted a moving video tribute to his late mother with a song he had written in her honor.
'You gave your life for me, you gave your life for love,' it begins, showing footage of him as a young boy with his parents. It also shows footage of Cynthia with John during the early days of Beatlemania.
'The love you left behind will carry on,' Julian sings in a style influenced by his late father. It concludes with the words: 'I know you're safe above.'
Cynthia met Lennon at art school in Liverpool in 1957 and the couple married just before Beatlemania transformed her husband from a jobbing musician into one of the most famous men in the world.
At the height of the Beatles' early success, she was kept so far in the background that many of Lennon's female fans were not even aware of her existence, and she stayed at home bringing up Julian while the Fab Four toured the world and topped the charts.
Cynthia Lennon, nee Powell, grew up in a middle-class community on the Wirral, met John Lennon while they were both students at the Liverpool College of Art.
The pair married in 1962, when Cynthia was just 22, after she became pregnant with their son Julian.
Beatles' members George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein - who was best man - all attended.
The Lennons bought Kenwood, then a 22-bedroom home, in Weybridge, Surrey, for £20,000 in 1964.
Kenwood became the place to visit for the other Beatles, various American musicians and total strangers that Lennon had met the previous night in London nightclubs.
While she had suspicions of Lennon's infidelity over the years, with friends telling her that Lennon had had numerous affairs as far back as their time together at art college in Liverpool, Cynthia ignored the warnings.
The Lennons' marriage troubles came to a head in February 1968 when Lennon drunkenly confessed to sleeping with other women during their marriage.
Lennon suggested Cynthia take a holiday with friends. She returned to find her husband sitting across from Yoko Ono on the floor - staring into each other's eyes.
In one of her book's she wrote that she then found Yoko's slippers outside their bedroom door - shocked and upset she left the house to stay with friends.
After years of trouble, the marriage finally ended in August 1968 when Yoko Ono discovered she was pregnant.
Fearing a lengthy divorce process, the couple settled outside of court, with Lennon agreeing to pay Cynthia £100,000 and give her custody of Julian.
The divorce prompted Paul McCartney to pen the Beatles' classic Hey Jude to help Julian cope with his parents' separation. He changed the name Julian to Jude in the song.
The line 'take a sad song and make it better,' is about the Lennons' broken marriage and its impact on their son.
Cynthia learned of Lennon's death on 8 December 1980, while she was staying with friends in London.
She married Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini in 1970, divorcing him in 1973. In 1976, she married John Twist, an engineer from Lancashire, but divorced him in 1983.
In an interview to publicise one of her books, 2005's John, she told Good Morning America: 'I have read so many books and seen so many films, and it's like we don't really exist. We are like walk-on parts in his life. We did spend 10 years together.'
Recalling their early days, she said: 'You couldn't resist being around him. You couldn't resist watching what he was up to. I mean, he was a total rebel. Everybody was amazed by him.'
Author Hunter Davies, who wrote the only authorized Beatles biography in 1968, described Cynthia as a 'lovely woman'.
He said that unlike John, she was 'quiet and reserved and calm' and 'not a hippy at all.'
He said their friends at art school never thought the relationship would last because they were so different.
In her book, Cynthia described being mistreated by John. Julian was their only child together.
He said: 'When I was writing the book I spent two years with them, visiting her home and spending time with her.
'I think it was the attraction of opposites between them. When they got together at art school everyone was amazed - she was seen as refined and reserved and nobody thought they would last.
DIVORCE PAPERS SHED LIGHT ON THE LENNON'S RELATIONSHIP
A never-before-seen dossier detailing the bitter breakdown of John Lennon's marriage to his first wife Cynthia was uncovered in February after nearly 50 years.
The five-page document, drafted by the solicitors dealing with the Beatle's divorce in 1968, reveals details of his increasing drug use and his affair with Yoko Ono.
It centres on claims made by Dorothy Jarlett, Lennon's housekeeper of four years, on what she saw while working at the Lennon family home Kenwood in Weybridge, Surrey.
The papers detail his mood swings, aggressive behaviour towards his young son Julian and heated arguments between him and Cynthia.
Mrs Jarlett describes how Yoko Ono would visit the country pile while Cynthia was out of the country, and how she once found the pair in bed together.
She reveals how Lennon became nonchalant towards his wife around 1967 - five years after they tied the knot - when the Beatles were at the height of their fame.
She said Lennon was uninterested in playing the father figure role and that he would smack Julian if he misbehaved.
The statement was made to Herbert Oppenheimer, Nathan and Vandyk - a firm of solicitors in London employed by Cynthia following the breakdown of the marriage.
The document has never been seen before because Lennon and Cynthia settled out of court, with Lennon agreeing to pay her £100,000 and give her custody of Julian.
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