The Beatles are still enjoyed around the world to this day, even scooping up a Grammy as recently as last year.
It’s hard to believe founder John Lennon was shockingly killed way back in 1980, and Thursday, Jan. 22 marks exactly 45 years since the last portrait of him and Yoko Ono was released to the masses.
On this day in 1981, newsstands were welcomed with Rolling Stone’s new issue paying tribute to the couple, particularly the late Lennon, who had died a month and a half earlier at just 40 years of age. On the cover of the coveted magazine was an image of a naked Lennon in a fetal embrace of his clothed wife, now 92.
Famed photographer Annie Leibovitz‘s portrait became a defining picture of arguably the most photographed married couple in the history of music, according to HISTORY.com.
“You’ve captured our relationship exactly,” Lennon had said to Leibovitz, 76, according to the caption of the Instagram post above from the late musician’s official account.
“The ’80s were not a romantic time and I asked [John and Yoko] to crawl up together,” Leibovitz later said in May 2014 regarding the iconic photo, per the caption above. “I wanted them both to be naked, but Yoko wouldn’t take off her pants so I said, ‘why don’t you keep everything on?’ In those days, you pull a Polaroid and the three of us knew right away it was good. I was sent to get John for the cover, not Yoko, because there was still a lot of resentment [towards her]. But when I got there, John said he wanted Yoko on the cover… When he was killed, I went to Rolling Stone and they were mocking up the film. I told them the story and so they put that photo on the cover.”
While the Rolling Stone image is sometimes called the final photograph of Lennon, it’s actually just the final portrait of him and Yoko together. The final photo of John was taken a few hours after Leibovitz’s by a fan, HISTORY.com also reports.
This story was originally published by Parade on Jan 23, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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