“I didn’t raise that rift. That was our Johnny,” the 79-year-old says. “This was my band, this was my job, this was my life, so I wanted to move on.” Lennon thinks otherwise, according to McCartney. “John wanted to build a new life with Yoko. John always wanted to distance himself from society a little more. I was raised by his Aunt Mimi who was very arrogant so he always felt the need to break free.” The musician seems to be implying that he does not hold Yoko Ono responsible for Lennon’s choices.

McCartney describes the end of the Beatles as the most difficult period of his life, mainly due to often media speculation that he was the person behind the end of the Beatles. “I had to live with that because that’s how people see it. All I can say is that it wasn’t.”

In the interview, the Beatles also said that a recently appeared play he wrote with Lennon. “I’ve been telling people for years that John and I wrote a play. It’s a very funny piece called Pilchard, and it has to do with Christ.” It is not clear from the now published part of the interview whether there are concrete plans for the article.