Even before she married John Lennon, even before she embarked on a career as an avant-garde and conceptual artist, Yoko Ono was under scrutiny, first by her teachers and peers, later by people of a different region as her family fled the fire-bombings of Tokyo.
When asked if it was discouraging to have her character questioned and her work strongly criticized after she became the wife of the beloved Beatle, Ono didn't even pause before responding. "I was not particularly affected by what people were saying about my work. It was kind of a normal procedure for my work in a way. I mean, I had been criticized all the time up until then."
Yoko Ono was born on Feb. 18, 1933, in Tokyo. Both of her parents were from wealthy families of bankers, and as a child she went to the elite Gakushuin school, which was also attended by members of the Imperial family.