Paul McCartney: Yoko Ono didn't break up the group

Paul McCartney performs at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert in London on June 4, 2012. / Getty

In a new interview with David Frost, set to air next month, former Beatle Paul McCartney discloses that Yoko Ono did not break up the popular group.

Ono, John Lennon's now widow, had been blamed by diehard Beatles fans for breaking up the group in 1970.

McCartney, according to the Guardian, told Frost, " She certainly didn't break the group up, the group was breaking up."

He credits Ono with opening up a new world for Lennon, making the song "Imagine" possible.

"I don't think he would have done that without Yoko, so I don't think you can blame her for anything," he tells Frost, according to the Guardian. "When Yoko came along, part of her attraction was her avant garde side, her view of things, so she showed him another way to be, which was very attractive to him. So it was time for John to leave, he was definitely going to leave [one way or another]."

McCartney's interview with Frost is scheduled to air Nov. 9 on the Al Jazeera English channel.

[rwsmith29456]

Are people still thinking this?? It's common knowledge now that the Beatles would have broken up even if Yoko wasn't in the picture. It's nice of McCartney to give some credit for the inspiration of 'Imagine' to Yoko. In fact, though Lennon had spells of non-creativeness, he turned out some great music in the '70s and was working on an album when he was killed.