Yoko Ono's daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox, spent most of her childhood hidden from her mother — raised under a false name inside an American religious cult — before quietly rebuilding her life in Colorado. Now 62, she has stepped far back from the spotlight, channelling her creativity into art, teaching, and community work rather than the entertainment industry her parents inhabited. Her extraordinary story returned to public focus in 2025 with the release of the documentary One to One: John & Yoko.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Key takeaways
- Kyoko Chan Cox, born 8 August 1963, is Yoko Ono's only daughter and John Lennon's stepdaughter.
- Her father, Anthony Cox, abducted her on Christmas Eve 1971 in violation of a court custody order and raised her inside a religious cult called The Walk.
- Kyoko lived for years under the assumed name Ruth Holman and did not reconnect with her mother until 1994.
- Since then, she has worked in non-profit organisations, teaching, and darkroom photography in Colorado.
- Her estimated net worth is $1 million–$5 million, though sources vary widely.
Profile summary
Detail | Information |
Full name | Kyoko Chan Cox |
Date of birth | 8 August 1963 |
Place of birth | Tokyo, Japan |
Nationality | Japanese |
Mother | Yoko Ono |
Father | Anthony Cox |
Half-sibling | Sean Taro Ono Lennon |
Ex-husband | Jim Helfrich |
Children | Emi Ono Helfrich; John David Yeisuke Helfrich |
Profession | Artist, educator, former actress |
Net worth | $1 million–$5 million |
Current residence | Denver, Colorado, USA |
Who is Yoko Ono's daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox?
Yoko Ono has two children: Kyoko Chan Cox and Sean Taro Ono Lennon. Yoko had her first child, Kyoko Chan Cox, with American film producer and art promoter Anthony Cox in 1963.
Ono and Cox had their second (and only official) wedding in June 1963, just a couple of months before Kyoko was born in Tokyo, Japan, in August of that year.
Who is the father of Yoko Ono's daughter?
Anthony D. Cox, born in 1937, is an American film producer and art promoter. He married artist Yoko Ono in 1963, and they were together until 1969. Cox met Yoko Ono in 1961 after seeing her artwork in an anthology and locating her in Tokyo, Japan.
Source: Original
The couple married in November 1962, but the marriage was annulled in March 1963 because Ono failed to officially finalise her divorce from her first husband, composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. They remarried on 11 June 1963, two months before their daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox, was born on 8 August 1963.
How many biological children did Yoko Ono have?
Yoko Ono has two children with different fathers: a daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox, and a son, Sean Taro Ono Lennon. Her second child, Sean Taro Ono Lennon, was born in 1975.
The custody battle and years in hiding
How Anthony Cox took Kyoko into hiding
Cox and Ono divorced on 2 February 1969. By 1970, Cox had married an American woman named Melinda Kendall and had moved to Denmark with Kyoko. After a legal battle, the court awarded Ono custody of Kyoko.
However, in 1971, Cox — who had joined a Christian cult known as the Church of the Living Word, or "The Walk", after his divorce from Ono — vanished with his wife Melinda and Kyoko in violation of the custody order.
The battle for Kyoko started all over again, but when Tony saw the Lennons were on the verge of winning custody after they agreed to the judge's stipulation to raise Kyoko in America, he fled with the eight-year-old on Christmas Eve, 1971.
Life inside the cult
Kyoko spent her formative years hidden in a religious community in Iowa and California, where she was given a new identity: Ruth Holman. She lived a quiet, secluded life, attending school under her new identity. Kyoko, 61, told the Daily Mail:
When people hear about my story, they don't understand what it was like before Facebook. There's my mom and John doing all these things to appeal to me.
However, she had no idea about the search underway for her and instead grew up in a cult. She added;
It makes me sound heartless. But I was living on a farm in Iowa. We didn't own a TV. And a lot of people don't understand that there's a lifestyle like that.
Cox eventually left "The Walk" after a few years, and in 1978, he and Kyoko stayed with the Jesus People USA commune in Chicago.
Source: Getty Images
Yoko Ono's search for her daughter
In 1971, Cox disappeared with Kyoko and took her into hiding. For the next two decades, Ono fought and spent a fortune to find her daughter.
Ono's song Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow) was inspired by the custody fight and represents her attempt to communicate with her daughter.
When John Lennon was murdered in 1980, Yoko received a telegram expressing condolences on her husband's death, signed by Kyoko and Tony.
Does Yoko Ono have a relationship with her daughter?
In 1994, when she was 31, Kyoko decided to re-establish contact with Ono, and the two have maintained their relationship since then. Ono reflected in 2003:
When Kyoko finally appeared, I was totally in shock. It felt like the part of me that was missing came back.
Mother and daughter have been close ever since. A friend told biographer David Sheff;
When Kyoko came back, Yoko was the most whole since John was killed.
According to Kyoko, she viewed her father as "impossible," "self-deluded," and a "major narcissist."
What does Yoko Ono's daughter do today?
Career and current life
These days, Kyoko keeps a low profile, living a private life mainly in Denver, Colorado. She also spends time in New York, where her passion for art was sparked early on by a Polaroid camera her mother gave her.
After finishing college in Chicago, she moved to Colorado to work for a non-profit and later took on teaching roles. She even taught darkroom photography, a skill she honed under the guidance of renowned film artist and historian Standish Lawder at the now-closed Denver Darkroom.
Over the years, she has been involved in advocacy and philanthropy, although specific details about her career remain sparse.
Kyoko Chan Cox is currently living a private life in Colorado, according to the South China Morning Post. She is divorced, has two children, and is known for her passion for art.
Early acting roles
Early in her career, Kyoko Chan Cox appeared in Bed Peace (1969) and The Real Yoko Ono (2001). She also began her acting career in 1966 with the short film No. 4 and has since appeared in 3 Days in the Life (1970). These appearances were largely tied to her mother's creative orbit rather than an independent acting career.
Latest news
A documentary, One to One: John & Yoko, peels back layers of secrecy and draws fresh attention to Kyoko's haunting story. Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards co-directed the film. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August 2024; Magnolia Pictures then acquired its North American rights, leading to an exclusive IMAX and theatrical rollout in April 2025.
In the documentary, Ono admits to being an "offbeat mother," bringing Kyoko onstage as a baby during performances and to Montreal for Lennon's peace "bed-in" when Kyoko was only four.
Years earlier, Anthony Cox produced an autobiographical 1985 documentary titled Vain Glory, which detailed his perspective on the custody battle, his life on the run, and their time spent inside the religious group, with Kyoko credited as a co-producer. Additionally, a December 2025 piece in Little Village Magazine shed further light on the Iowa cult community where Kyoko spent years hidden from the world.
What is Yoko Ono's daughter's net worth?
The Japanese actress has an alleged net worth of $1 million to $5 million, earning income through acting, teaching, and multimedia artistic work. However, because she does not publicly disclose earnings from her artistic projects, this figure is difficult to verify precisely. Because she keeps her life private, the true extent of her finances remains unknown.
FAQ
- What does Yoko Ono's daughter do for work? Kyoko Chan Cox works as an artist and educator. She has taught darkroom photography in Colorado and worked for a non-profit organisation after finishing college in Chicago.
- How many biological children did Yoko Ono have? Yoko Ono has two biological children: daughter Kyoko Chan Cox (with Anthony Cox) and son Sean Taro Ono Lennon (with John Lennon).
- Who is the father of Yoko Ono's daughter? Anthony D. Cox, an American film producer and art promoter born in 1937, is Kyoko Chan Cox's father. He married Yoko Ono in 1963, and they were together until 1969.
- Does Yoko Ono have a relationship with her daughter? Yes. Kyoko reached out to Yoko in 1994, when she was 31, and the two have maintained a close relationship ever since.
- Where is Yoko Ono's daughter now? Kyoko Chan Cox lives a quiet, private life in Denver, Colorado, and occasionally spends time in New York.
- What happened to Kyoko during the custody dispute? Anthony Cox abducted Kyoko on Christmas Eve 1971, in violation of a court custody order. He raised her inside a religious cult called the Church of the Living Word, where she lived under the assumed name Ruth Holman.
- What is Yoko Ono's daughter's net worth? Her estimated net worth is between $1 million and $5 million, though this is unverified given the private nature of her life and work.
- Did Kyoko Chan Cox appear in any films? Yes. She appeared in Bed Peace (1969), 3 Days in the Life (1970), and The Real Yoko Ono (2001), though these were minor roles closely connected to her mother's artistic projects.
Quick facts
- Kyoko was hidden inside the Church of the Living Word cult for over a decade under the name Ruth Holman.
- She taught darkroom photography at the Denver Darkroom in Colorado.
- She appeared in Bed Peace (1969), one of Yoko Ono's early film projects.
- She reconnected with her mother, Yoko Ono, in 1994, nearly 23 years after being taken away.
- The 2025 IMAX documentary One to One: John & Yoko features her story.
Yoko Ono's daughter, Kyoko Chan Cox, has lived a life shaped by a childhood custody battle, years away from her mother and a gradual return to family life. Despite her connection to two prominent figures in music and art, she has chosen privacy over fame, pursuing interests in photography, teaching and community work. Her story remains a remarkable chapter in the Ono-Lennon family history, brought back into focus by the 2025 documentary One to One: John & Yoko.
We also highlighted facts about Barry's four children, their careers and their lives away from the spotlight.
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Source: Legit.ng