Three days ago, this tweet caught the world by storm. In it, John Lennon admitted that he and Paul McCartney had, at one point, experienced something more than platonic friendship. Reactions poured in from every corner of the platform; some cheerful, some sceptic, some less… favourable. Earlier today, we sat down with John to learn what led to the unexpected confession.

Q: The tweet where you confirmed a past relationship with Paul seemed very spur-of-the-moment. Was it something you consciously intended to go public about or did it just slip out?

JOHN: I’m a very honest person. I’ve “no filter”, as they say, so there’s times I’ll say something where I should’ve probably shut my mouth instead. In this instance, well, I do wish I’d known to do it a bit more… tactfully, maybe – for Paul’s sake. But, you know, what’s done is done.

Q: Do you feel, after coming out, that a weight has been lifted off your shoulders?

JOHN: No. Not really. I mean, I don’t care what Cindy from Wisconsin thinks about my having slept with Paul fifty or forty-five years ago. Why would I? The only person whose opinion on the matter I cared about was Paul, for obvious reasons. Everybody else's opinions – they never mattered to me, and still don't.

Q: Was your relationship with Paul limited to the Beatle years, then?

JOHN: Depends what you call “Beatle years”. First time I realised there was something more than friendship going on between us was probably our first trip to Hamburg. I might’ve had thoughts in that… direction for a few months before that, but that was the first time I knew he also felt that way. And then… it was an on-and-off thing until the trip to India in ‘68, I think. We drifted apart after that.

Q: Was this “break-up” the prelude to the band’s actual break-up?

JOHN: Sure. I’m telling you, we’d been together in some manner or other since Hamburg. But then – with Yoko, and Linda, and all that mess with Klein and the money… We were in the same spaces, but forced apart by these very powerful outside factors. And we didn’t know how to not be together, you know? The band splitting up was the only choice. The only healthy choice, for everybody involved.

Q: Was John Lennon’s relationship with Paul McCartney purely sexual, or was it a love story?

JOHN: Desire was a very real and a very beautiful part of our relationship during the 60s, but it came and it went. Sometimes we desired each other, sometimes we didn’t. But love was always there, you know. We didn’t ever stop loving each other. Even when we were at each other’s throats, we couldn’t stop. I haven’t, to this day.

Q: Does this mean that a Lennon-McCartney reunion may be on the horizon?

JOHN: Oh, I don’t know. I might invite him to open for me sometime – he might be willing to do that. As long as we return him to the nursing home in time for bed. [Laughs] What, you don’t think he’s been looking a little frail lately? He dyes his hair, you know.