John Lydon has stated that his former Sex Pistols bandmates did not reach out to him after the passing of his wife, Nora Forster, who died in April 2023 following a prolonged battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

In a recent interview with The Times, Lydon — who performed as Johnny Rotten during his time with the Pistols — mentioned that he did not receive any communication from guitarist Steve Jones, bassist Glen Matlock, or drummer Paul Cook after Forster’s death.

“I expected some kind of connection when Nora died, but nothing,” Lydon expressed.

Forster was married to Lydon for nearly fifty years. In the later years of her life, Lydon took on the role of her full-time caregiver, often discussing the emotional and physical impact of Alzheimer’s disease and how it altered his perspective on life.

“All the things I thought were the ultimate agony seem preposterous now,” he remarked at that time. “It’s shaped me into what I am. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it.”

Lydon’s remarks come amid ongoing tension between him and his former bandmates, who have toured in recent years without him, performing Sex Pistols songs with former Gallows frontman Frank Carter as the lead singer.

The former band member has been openly critical of this decision, describing the live performances as “karaoke” in past interviews and questioning the group’s artistic direction while speaking to British publication The i Paper about the tour. He expressed feeling “annoyed” by the entire situation and worried that it would damage the group’s legacy.

“When I first heard that the Sex Pistols were touring this year without me it pissed me off,” he stated. “It annoyed me. I just thought, ‘they’re absolutely going to kill all that was good with the Pistols by eliminating the point and the purpose of it all.’ I didn’t write those words lightly.”

“They’re trying to trivialize the whole show to get away with karaoke but in the long term I think you’ll see who has value and who doesn’t. I’ve never sold my soul to make a dollar. It’s the Catholic in me – that guilt I don’t want to trip.”

The Sex Pistols originally existed from 1975 until 1978, releasing their only studio album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols in 1977.

Famously, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 but declined to attend the ceremony, labeling the institution a “piss stain.”