The man who took the life of John Lennon has finally revealed a haunting reason behind the murder of the iconic Beatles member over forty years ago.
On December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman shot and killed Lennon, who was a beloved figure and a leading figure of the Liverpool band, as Lennon was returning home with his wife Yoko Ono from a recording session.
The world-renowned songwriter, who was 40 years old at the time, died from his injuries on the steps of his New York apartment, leading to a global outpouring of grief and disbelief.
As the 45th anniversary of the tragic event approaches, Chapman explained to a parole board the reasoning behind his decision to kill Lennon.
In an August interview from Green Haven Correctional Facility, a transcript of which was obtained by the New York Post, the now 70-year-old Chapman stated, “This was for me and me alone, unfortunately, and it had everything to do with his popularity.
“My crime was completely selfish.”
When asked by a commissioner about his motive for killing Lennon, Chapman confessed, “To be famous, to be something I wasn’t. And then I just realized, hey, there is a goal here.
“I don’t have to die and I can be a somebody. I had sunk that low.”
Chapman has previously mentioned in parole hearings that he had contemplated assassinating Lennon two months earlier, in October 1980.
He waited outside the Dakota department building hoping to encounter the music legend, but Lennon did not appear.
Chapman returned on December 8 of that year and committed the murder, shooting Lennon four times in the back.
He has also expressed a connection to Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of JD Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, which he began reading immediately after the murder.
Throughout the years, Chapman has expressed regret for his actions.
Reflecting on Lennon, Chapman said, “This was a human being. Here I am living so much longer, and not just family but his friends and the fans, I apologize for the devastation that I caused you, the agony that they must have gone through.
“I had no thought about that at all at the time of the crime, I didn’t care. I don’t have any interest at all in being famous. Put me under the rug somewhere. I don’t want to be famous anymore, period.”
Recently, Chapman was denied parole for the 14th time since receiving a 20-years-to-life prison sentence in the 1980s.
He will be eligible to apply for parole again in 2027, as the board determined Chapman failed to show ‘genuine remorse or meaningful empathy’ for his actions and their impact on the victims.
Lennon left behind his wife Ono, their son Sean, and his eldest son Julian from his first marriage to Cynthia.