Dorothy Rhone in Cynthia's apartment
Dorothy Rhone was born to Tom and Jessie Rhone around in 1944 in Liverpool. Dot was the youngest of four children (Billy, Anne, and Barbara), raised in a strict household and was sheltered. She attended Liverpool Institute of Girls, across the street from Liverpool Institute of Boys where Paul McCartney attended. Dot first saw the Quarrymen perform in 1959 at the Casbah and had a crush on John. She soon discovered that he had a girlfriend, Cynthia.
“It must have been all over my face that I fancied John, but once it became clear he had a girlfriend, I lost interest.”
Dot Rhone
“John was also the dominant one, a very different personality. He gave me the nickname 'Bubbles’, for some reason, and we got along really well. I know Paul is always painted as the nice, kind one, but to me, John was more compassionate. He wasn't as mean as they make out.”
Dot Rhone
Paul and Dot started to date and she became good friends with Cynthia. The foursome would frequently double-date.
“John was a flirt. As long as they were happy, we were happy.”
Dot Rhone
“We weren't allowed to open our mouths. They'd talk all night, and we just listened.”
Dot Rhone
“The normal thing was to go to these big ballrooms, where the girls would sit at one end and the boys at the other. There would be a crowd of us: me, Paul, John, Cyn, and George- who was the youngest always tagging along.”
Dot Rhone
Like John with Cynthia, Paul was a strict boyfriend: he was jealous, quick tempered, possessive, controlling. Over time, Dot, who worked as a bank clerk, lost touch with her friends. Both John and Paul lusted over Brigitte Bardot and modeled their girlfriends after her by dying their hair blonde and their mostly black clothes. Dot lost her virginity to Paul around Christmas of 1959. The following year, in February of 1960, Dot discovered that she was pregnant. Her family were horrified and thought of sending Dot away to her older sister and give the baby up for adoption. But Paul refused: he would marry Dot and they would raise their baby. Paul's father started to help working on the wedding arrangements and was more supportive than her family. Three months into the pregnancy and the wedding looming near, Dot suffered a miscarriage. In August of that year, Paul went to Hamburg. Like John, Paul would send her letters and he had his own share of affairs.
“I spent a lot of time with Cyn talking about them and writing letters. Sometimes we would dress ourselves up in the leather skirts and put on our make-up and take pictures of one another to send to them.”
Dot Rhone
When the opportunity for Dot to go to Hamburg to visit Paul, she pleaded with her parents to allow her to go. I am sure her pregnancy from the year before was still fresh in their minds! Anyway, Dot managed to plead good enough to go. Paul's Dad and Cynthia's Mother accompanied the girls to the train station to see them off. While Cynthia stayed with Astrid, Dot stayed on the houseboat owned by their friend, Rosa the lavatory attendant.
Photographed by Mike McCartney
“She and John’s girlfriend, later wife, Cynthia, came over to Hamburg and I remember buying her a leather skirt and encouraging her to grow her hair long so she’d look like Brigitte. She was a blonde. Cynthia had the same thing- tight skirt, long blonde hair. Cynthia wasn't actually a blonde but John got her to dye it blonde to look a bit more like Brigitte. I remember he and I saying, 'Yeah, well, the more they look like Brigitte, the better off we are, mate!’”
Paul McCartney
Paul wrote two songs for Dot: P. S. I Love You (it appears on The Beatles’ debut album, Please Please Me in 1963 and occasionally performs it in concert) and Love of the Loved (unreleased).
Photographed by Mike McCartney
After returning from Hamburg, Dot got a new job as a chemist dispenser and moved into Cynthia's old apartment after she moved in next door after a neighbor left and abandoned it. Later that year, 1961, her relationship with Paul started to crumble. Paul would visit her less and less and when he did visit, they would argue. By the summer of 1962, Cynthia and Dot were enjoying a girls’ night in pampering themselves yet not in the state for their boyfriends to see. Paul unexpectedly showed up and went to Dot’s apartment for privacy when he broke up with her. Dot was devastated and moved back in with her parents. After Cynthia and John discovered that they were going to be parents and got married, Cynthia had a close call of a miscarriage. Dot went to stay with Cynthia to be with her while John was touring. One day, Dot was washing the dishes and took off her engagement ring from Paul but forgot to put it back on. Cynthia found it and put it on but forgot about it. It wasn't until 1997 when Cynthia went to Toronto where Dot was now living to return the ring. Anyway, in 1964 Dot moved to Canada and lost touch with Cynthia until, well, 1997, when they reunited; I do not know if they continued to keep in touch until Cynthia's death. A few days after her arrival in Canada, Dot met Werner Becker- they married and had three daughters (the first named Astrid, after Astrid Kirchherr). Dot saw Paul three times while living in Canada: twice during the Beatles tour and in 1976 with Wings with Paul’s wife Linda in the band. Paul invited Dot and her family to see the show and backstage where they made peace with their past.
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