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Paul McCartney Says Yoko Ono Was an 'Interference in the Workplace' for The Beatles — Here's Why The 81-year-old Grammy winner took a trip down memory lane during a recent podcast episode.

By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas

Key Takeaways

  • McCartney says Ono's presence during the recording of 1968's 'The White Album' was 'disturbing.'
  • In 2021, McCartney revealed that John Lennon instigated The Beatles' split.

Change in the workplace can be stressful — even for high-profile professionals.

Just ask Paul McCartney. In a new episode for his McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcast, the 81-year-old Grammy winner reveals how having John Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono, join The Beatles' recording sessions put a strain on their process, People reported.

Related: What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from The Beatles | Entrepreneur

"Things like Yoko being literally in the middle of the recording session [were] something you had to deal with," McCartney told the poet Paul Muldoon, recalling the band's recording of 1968's The White Album. "The idea was that if John wanted this to happen, then it should happen. There's no reason why not."

Lester Cohen | Getty Images

Although the band was "heading toward" a breakup at the time and Ono's presence was "disturbing," the group didn't outright object to having Ono in the studio. Still, McCartney maintains that "none of them particularly liked it."

"It was an interference in the workplace," McCartney explains to Muldoon. "We had a way we worked. The four of us worked with George Martin. And that was basically it. And we'd always done it like that. So not being very confrontational, I think we just bottled it up and just got on with it."

Related: Paul McCartney: New Beatles Song Made With AI Coming This Year

Fans blamed McCartney for the band's 1970 breakup, but more than half a century later, the co-lead vocalist said it was actually Lennon who initiated the split, CNN reported.

Amanda Breen

Entrepreneur Staff

Senior Features Writer

Amanda Breen is a senior features writer at Entrepreneur.com. She is a graduate of Barnard College and received an MFA in writing at Columbia University, where she was a news fellow for the School of the Arts.

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