John Lydon joined The Masked Singer UK for one clear reason: to bankroll the next Public Image Ltd album.
At a Glance
- Lydon, 69, said the ITV fee funded a month-long recording stint in Portugal
- He was unmasked as the yak after singing Physical and Sex Bomb on Jan. 10
- Previously competed on the U.S. version in 2021 to entertain his late wife
- Why it matters: The punk icon’s candid admission strips away reality-TV glamour and shows touring musicians still hustle to finance studio time
Lydon, also known as Johnny Rotten, told This Morning on Monday, Jan. 12 that the paycheck was the primary draw.
“Fun, firstly. Mostly, accurately, the money,” he said during the live interview.
The singer explained the cash had already been spent:
- A full month of studio time in Portugal
- A short holiday for the band afterward
According to Lydon, one bandmate grew suspicious about the sudden influx of recording funds but never connected the dots to the costume-clad show.
“They were wondering where I got the money from the studio,” he recalled, adding that the mystery remained unsolved among his bandmates.
Lydon’s yak performances ended on Saturday, Jan. 10, when he delivered tongue-in-cheek covers of Olivia Newton-John’s Physical and Tom Jones’ Sex Bomb before being eliminated.
In the same interview, Lydon revisited his 2021 stint on the American edition, where he wore a jester outfit. That decision, he said, was rooted in family rather than finance.
“That was before the death of my lovely wife,” he noted. Nora Foster, his wife of nearly five decades, died in April 2023 after living with Alzheimer’s.
“I wanted her to enjoy that and see if she could guess if it was me before she died,” Lydon said. “And she totally went, ‘It’s you’. Alzheimer’s or not, ‘That’s you.'”
Lydon had previously told The Mirror in June 2020 that he had become his wife’s full-time carer during her illness.
Key Takeaways
- Lydon’s admission highlights the economic realities veteran artists face when funding new projects
- His dual appearances on The Masked Singer franchises were driven by separate, deeply personal motives
- The Sex Pistols frontman continues to balance art, finance and family legacy in the public eye
