Thread by @thesundaytimes

“Alzheimer’s is a wicked, debilitating process, but we’re going through that together. She doesn’t forget me. She forgets everything else but not me.”

Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten talks about quitting hellraising to become a full-time carer for his wife. thetimes.co.uk/article/sex-pi…

In the 1970s he was the frontman of the Sex Pistols and the angry face of punk rock. His hard-edged songs, including Anarchy in the UK, full of rage and nihilism, chimed with unemployment and industrial unrest in run-down Britain and attracted an army of safety-pin-pierced fans.

Today Johnny Rotten is John Lydon, now 65, holding together a pair of broken spectacles.

His daily routine is as far from anarchy as he can manage. His wife, Nora Forster, suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and needs orderliness and calm, he says.

Nihilism has given way to stoicism and he’s reconciled to the fact that Forster’s condition is incurable and will never improve.

“Forewarned is forearmed, and that’s how it is, and you have to get to grips with it and lay off the self-pity.”

“These are the cards you’re handed and you play the game to the end to the best of your ability. God, you know, if Johnny bloody Rotten can do it, f***ing hell, what’s your excuse?”

“I know it’s going to deteriorate into something really, really terrible, but we’re facing it with a sense of dignity. I mean, it would be easy enough to run away and say, ‘Oh, it’s not my responsibility; things aren’t the same’. Bollocks to that.”

“When I make a commitment it’s for ever and I stand by that and I’m very proud to do the best I can for her. We’ve been together now 45 years; we’re not going to change anything.”

“You know, what’s an illness between true friends, man and wife, lovers, whatever you want to call it? We are a proper pair of people who love and adore each other.”

“Life must continue to the absolute; you must fight for life to the very bitter end.”

Read the rest of the interview: thetimes.co.uk/article/sex-pi…