Always Friends

Cynthia and Astrid

Astrid Kirchherr remained friends with John and Cynthia- mostly Cynthia. In September of 1963, Astrid and a friend of hers traveled to Paris. She somehow heard that John and Cynthia were spending their belated honeymoon there and left a note at the front desk of their hotel to meet up. They drank, ate, drank some more, having a jolly good time. It was real late, John and Cynthia were in no condition to go anywhere so all four of them piled into Astrid's hotel bed and slept. They must have quite a hangover the following morning!

Astrid, Maureen, and Pattie watching The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night, 1964

In the Spring of 1964, while The Beatles were were filming A Hard Day's Night, Astrid came down with someone doing a project. She visited the set where she met Maureen Cox, Pattie Boyd, and maybe Jane Asher (not confirmed at this time). Astrid visited Ringo and George's apartment, hung out with George's parents, and visited John and Cynthia- meeting their almost a year old son, Julian, for the first time.

“I was very friendly with Cynthia, John's first wife, and used to visit them at their flat in London.”

Astrid Kirchherr, 2013

Not much is really known after that other than Cynthia saying it had been a long time since she and Astrid would see each other again. Life carried on but their friendship was always there. In 1994, Cynthia and Astrid attended the premiere of Backbeat in London with Julian and Pattie. In the 2000s, Astrid and Cynthia appeared together at a few Beatles’ conventions. At the time of this writing, Astrid hasn't spoken about Cynthia's death (granted it has been a while since her last interview). Sadly, Astrid died on May 12, 2020 in Hamburg.

Cynthia and Astrid in Hamburg, 2005

Astrid, Bernard Kurz (event producer), and Cynthia in the Summer of 2010 in Berlin

Cynthia and Astrid in Hamburg, 2011

Photographed by Heinrich Geisler