John Lydon has announced the passing of his wife, Nora Forster.

Forster, Lydon’s wife of 44 years, had been living with Alzheimer’s since 2018. In recent years, Lydon largely retired from music in order to care for his wife.

A German publishing heiress, Forster hailed from Munich. In her early 20s, she worked as a local music promoter for artists like Jimi Hendrix and Yes. She also had a daughter named Ariane with German singer Frank Forster. Ariane, better known as Ari Up, went on to front the punk band The Slits. Following Up’s passing from breast cancer in 2010, Forster and Lydon became the guardians of her three children.

In the mid-1960s, Forster relocated to London and became something of a financial backer for UK punk bands like The Clash and Lydon’s Sex Pistols. She and Lydon later married in 1979.

Earlier this year, Lydon and his band Public Image Ltd.