Kyoko Ono waited until she was 30 years old before finally making that phone call she had long dreaded.
Nervous but determined, she took a deep breath and dialed the number.
When the phone rang back, it was a voice she hadn’t heard in decades—her mother’s.
The flood of relief was immediate, washing away years of fear, guilt, and sadness that had shadowed her adult life.
Now, at 61, Kyoko is opening up for the first time in an exclusive interview, sharing a story as dramatic as any movie—one that’s been told many times through biographies and documentaries about her famous mother Yoko Ono and stepfather John Lennon, but never from her perspective until now.
Childhood Torn Apart by Custody Battles and Secrets
Kyoko was only eight when she last saw or heard from her mother.
That year, her father, Anthony Cox—Yoko’s second husband—kidnapped her during a bitter custody dispute, whisking her away to rural America.
She grew up unaware of Yoko and John Lennon’s desperate, public search for her, which cost around $1.5 million in today’s money and dominated headlines.
Today, Kyoko wants people to understand something important: she had no idea about the frantic efforts made to find her.
“People don’t realize what it was like before Facebook,” she explains.
“My mom and John were doing everything to reach me, but I was living on a farm in Iowa without a TV. A lot of people don’t get that lifestyle.”
Growing Up Between Two Worlds
Kyoko clearly carries her mother’s delicate features and fine frame, though she is taller.
Despite the emotional weight of her story, she remains cautious—something only a child of such celebrity could fully understand.
She now lives quietly in Colorado, divorced since 2018 from lawyer Jim Helfrich, with whom she has two children.
“I’m not interested in being a public figure,” Kyoko says, voice trembling with nerves, “but I’m my mom’s daughter and want this story told right.”
She remembers being there when Yoko and John first met and witnessed the harsh treatment both endured—John, battered by fame and media, and Yoko, often racially abused and blamed for breaking up The Beatles.
Early Years: From London to the World Stage
Born in 1963 to Yoko and Cox, Kyoko’s life changed when Yoko met John Lennon three years later in London.
They sparked a connection that would alter all their lives, leaving former spouses behind to be together.
At first, arrangements for Kyoko’s care were friendly—her father remarried, and the families even spent holidays together.
Kyoko often stayed with Yoko and John, traveling internationally and even appearing as a small child in their famous 1969 Montreal “bed-in” protest.
Yet fame frightened her, and she often competed with others—including the nanny—for their attention.
The Turbulent Years of Kidnapping and Court Battles
The peace between Cox and Yoko unraveled in 1971 when Cox took Kyoko to Spain and enrolled her in a transcendental meditation preschool.
Yoko and John tracked them down and retrieved Kyoko, only to be arrested.
A Spanish court forced Kyoko into an impossible decision between her parents, and though she loved her mother, she chose her father for fear of upsetting anyone.
Back in the US, Cox’s refusal to honor visitation led to jail time and then a long disappearance with Kyoko—years during which she was hidden in cult-like communities and isolated from the world.
Life Inside a Cult and the Isolation from Family
Cox and Melinda Kendall, his new wife, took Kyoko first to a Pentecostal church, then deeper into the Living Word Fellowship, a strict religious cult in Iowa.
Here, Kyoko was cut off completely from Yoko and John’s world, unaware of their public pleas and media campaigns to find her.
“Going into a cult was the perfect place to hide if you’re scared of the FBI,” Kyoko says.
She recalls lonely days filled with chores and sermons, where mainstream Christian music wasn’t even allowed.
Despite this, some memories are warm—Melinda taught her to read, a kindness Kyoko treasures.
The Long Road Back to Contact
Kyoko begged her father many times to let her talk to her mother, but he refused, fearing prison and claiming it wasn’t what God wanted.
She was allowed only one brief Christmas call, a moment her half-brother Sean Lennon remembers as heartbreaking.
When the cult moved to California, Kyoko attended junior high, discovered Anne Frank’s diary, and began to see disturbing parallels with her own life in the cult.
Eventually, her father started doubting the group and they escaped.
But Cox remained controlling, pushing Kyoko into a conservative Christian college and opposing her relationship with Jim Helfrich, who encouraged her to reconnect with her mother.
Finally, Reaching Out After Two Decades
It took years of hesitation, but in her early 30s—after teaching public school and gaining confidence in understanding families—Kyoko finally called Yoko.
The first attempt failed, but the next brought a joyful reunion.
Her mother wanted no revenge, only to be reunited with her daughter.
From that moment on, their relationship blossomed naturally.
Kyoko now shares a close bond with her 92-year-old mother and looks back on her childhood with surprising forgiveness.
Looking Back with Compassion
Reflecting on the chaotic adults who let her down, Kyoko says, “They were all such kids themselves. Parenting is really hard.”
Despite the pain and loss, she sees the humanity in their struggles—and hopes her story will finally be understood on her terms.
What’s next for Kyoko? Now grounded in family and self-awareness, her journey is one of healing and connection after decades of silence.