>>300Tragedy struck as the psychedelic 60s dissolved into rampant drug use. John became an LSD evangelist and eventually got hooked on heroin, eventually marrying his heroin dealer Yoko Ono and infamously breaking up the Beatles. Paul was not an addict but misused drugs to the point of being heavily depressed by 1967, describing himself it as,
"I'd been doing a bunch of drugs, I wasn't in love with anyone, I hadn't settled down… I remember at the time feeling a little bit empty."
>Many Years From NowBoth men were mentally ill, depressed, overusing downers, and battered by the pressure cooker of being the most famous rock band in the world.
John Lennon initiated the break up in 1970 and after a tumtultous legal fight, the Beatles were no more. The Fab Four would never reform and play together as a group ever again. John and Paul remained in touch through out the 1970s but the relationship was stormy due to John's drug addictions and insistence on hiding behind Yoko and Paul's fleeing into his work and family life. Due to this they failed to resolve their existing emotional issues, including their fraught love affair.
John Lennon eventually moved to New York City with his heroin dealer-cum-wife Yoko, got into heavy PR battles with the US government when he used his fame to protest the Vietnam War, and produced eleven albums (one published posthumously.) He eventually became a hermit living in the Dakota until he was gunned down by a jealous attention-seeker on December 8, 1980.
Paul McCartney landed on his feet and formed the quirky band Wings with his wife Linda, had a family with her, and became a solo superstar in his own right. He is remarkably prolific, having made twenty six studio albums, four compilation albums, nine live albums, thirty seven video albums, two extended plays, one hundred and eleven singles, seven classical albums, five electronica albums, seventeen box sets, and seventy nine music videos.
While Paul denies having a romantic relationship with John Lennon he has publicly stated that he still loves and admires John and that he always has. His public regret is that he never made this clear enough for John to understand. He has since made his twilight years a living monument to his love for John, whether romantic or platonic. We will most likely never know if it was a romantic entanglement or not (there are multiple signs that point to "yes" including the fact that Paul has admitted they regularly masturbated together) but their love story is compelling despite its tragic end.