EXCLUSIVE: Inside Paul McCartney’s 'Hateful' Relationship With Yoko Ono, 92 — Which Kept Raging Even After Murder of John Lennon

Sir Paul McCartney's fractured relationship with Yoko Ono, now 92, remained a source of bitterness for decades – and even after the violent death of John Lennon in 1980, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

The 83-year-old Beatle has spoken repeatedly about the disruption he felt when Lennon began bringing Ono into the studio during the band's final years.

Her presence at rehearsals and recording sessions deepened McCartney's sense that his close creative partnership with Lennon was slipping away.

A source close to the band has now told us: "Paul could never accept the way Yoko was suddenly part of the process. He felt pushed aside. What made it worse is that the tensions didn't stop when The Beatles split – and even after John's death, their fallout continued."

The pair's brutal dynamic was captured in Peter Jackson's documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which used footage from director Michael Lindsay-Hogg.

In one clip, McCartney reflects on Lennon's closeness with Ono, saying: "See, but their point is that they're trying to like be as near together as they can. They wanna stay together, those two. So, it's alright. Let the young lovers stay together."

Privately, however, he admitted he resented her involvement. And in a 2022 interview with Howard Stern, McCartney recalled: "Let's face it; we didn't welcome Yoko into the studio. Because we thought it was a 'guy thing.' I mean…wives and girlfriends weren't really welcome in the studio.

"They could (pop in) the control room for a quick visit. But actually, sit in the studio with us? It was like, 'No. Excuse me. We're working.'"

He said he never confronted Lennon directly about Ono's presence.

But he admitted: "It was kind of obvious, though. We were just fuming and sulking. 'Excuse me, that's my amp.' She couldn't use the stool?' "It was mind-blowing."

McCartney later conceded they learned to cope, recognizing Lennon's right to have Ono by his side, though he wished Lennon had been more diplomatic in explaining it.

After Lennon's murder outside the Dakota building in New York, McCartney tried to maintain a civil relationship with Ono.

But he was devastated by her remarks in a later interview, where she suggested McCartney had hurt Lennon "more than any other person."

According to author Hunter Davies, McCartney was enraged, telling him those were the "cruelest words" he had ever heard.

"No one ever goes on about the times John hurt me," McCartney told Davies.

"When he called my music Muzak. People keep on saying I hurt him, but where's the examples, when did I do it? No one ever says. It's just always the same, blaming me. Could I have hurt John more than anyone in the world? More than the person who ran down his mother in his car?"

He was also incensed when Ono dismissed his role in The Beatles in another interview. "Yoko would appear in the press, and I'd read it, and it said, 'Paul did nothing! All he did was book the studio… .' "Like, 'F--- you, darling! Hang on! All I did was book the f------ studio?'" he told Esquire.