Kyoko Chan Cox: Unexplored Details About Yoko Ono’s Daughter

Kyoko Chan Cox is widely popular for being the daughter of the Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist Yoko Ono. She is also famous for being the daughter of popular American director Anthony Cox.

Besides, Kyoko is recognized for playing in many documentaries alongside her mother and father. However, her parents got separated when Cox was 6 years old. Did you know Kyoko was abducted by her father at the age of 8? So, why did her dad kidnap her? Did the star kid ever see her mother?

Stay with us till the end to learn some interesting facts about Kyoko Chan Cox including her career, personal life, marriage, net worth, and more.

Kyoko Chan Cox Was Born In Tokyo; How Was Her Childhood?

She was born on August 8, 1963, in Tokyo, Japan. As of 2023, Kyoko is 59 years old. As mentioned earlier, Chan is the daughter of Yoko Ono and Anthony Cox.

She had a particularly rough childhood as her parents didn’t get along. Eventually, when Kyoko was about five years old her parents decided to end their relationship by getting legally divorced. Chan’s custody was given to her father and she spent most of her early life living with her father in New York.

Kyoko is the granddaughter of Isoko Ono and Yeisuke Ono. Likewise, her paternal grandparents are Henretta Cox-Penn and Joe Cox. Similarly, her great-grandparents were Eijiro Ono, Tsuruko Saisho, and Zensaburo Yasuda.

As for her education, Chan went to Walter Reed Middle School located in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

She Has A Younger Half Brother

The celebrity kid has a younger half-brother from her mother’s second marriage with the Beatles’ col-lead vocalist John Lennon. His name is Sean Lennon born on October 9, 1975. He is 47 years old as of 2023 and is a musician by profession.

He is also a songwriter, producer, and instrumentalist. Sean has helped produce several musical hits for bands like Black Lips and Plastic Ono Band. The multi-talented musician has also released solo albums including Half Horse Half Musician, Into the Sun, and Friendly Fire.

Her Ethnicity And Nationality

Regarding her ethnicity, Kyoko is a mix of Asian and Caucasian descent and is an American by her nationality.

Kyoko Chan Cox Has Appeared In Multiple Documentaries

As mentioned in the heading, Kyoko has starred in many documentaries directed by her father. She first starred in the documentary No 4 in 1966. The documentary was directed by her parents and was 6 minutes long. Alongside her, Philip Corner, Richard Hamilton, and John Latham played in the documentary.

Following this, she played in a few more documentaries such as Bed Peace in 1969 and 3 Days In The Life in 1970. Unfortunately, both of the documentaries didn’t receive the success they wanted.

After this Kyoko didn’t play in a documentary for almost 30 years. In 2001, she played her last documentary called The Real Yoko Ono. Moreover, this documentary was directed by Ursula Macfarlane.

Previously, she also worked as a school teacher.

Kyoko Chan Cox’s Parents’ Marriage And Divorce

Anthony and Yoko first met in 1961 in Tokyo. Soon after their first meeting, they started to see each other. The former flames dated for a while before finally walking down the aisle on November 28, 1962. However, this was Chan’s mom’s second marriage.

Unfortunately, the ex-couple annulled their marriage on 1963 March 1. Anthony decided to take this decision because Ono wasn’t being serious about finalizing her divorce from her first husband.

After that, Yoko finalized her divorce from her first husband Toshi Ichiyanagi and reconciled with Cox. The former flames have had some ups and downs in their relationship but finally, Cox and Yoko cleared their differences and decided to remarry on 11th June 1963. Similarly, two months after their remarriage the couple became parents to their daughter Kyoko Chan.

During their final years together, the former lover was constantly fighting each other over minor issues. Sadly after being together for almost 7 years, Anthony and Ono decided to end their relationship on February 2, 1969.

Anthony Vanished With Kyoko After Their Divorce

After the ex-partners got divorced, there was a legal battle. Their divorce got very heated, and Ono got custody of Kyoko in the settlement. However, Anthony kidnapped his then-8-year-old daughter because of the fear of losing her in the process.

He was afraid that Yoko’s new hubby Lennon would use his power to take the kid away. So, to avoid that from happening, he took Kyoko and fled on Christmas Eve of 1971.

Kyoko’s mother was pretty heartbroken and sad. She tried searching for her daughter for more than three years but sadly, couldn’t find her. John and Yoko had spent more than $1.5 million in today’s money searching for her daughter.

More About Their Search For Kyoko

While searching for her, she even got arrested on an island by the Spanish police. John and Yoko had planned on picking her up at one of the hotels but were arrested for kidnapping after her child started screaming. They later got bailed after the Beatles’ manager came to the island.

John and Yoko even went to The Dick Cavett Show, one of the country’s biggest talk shows at the time. There, she pleaded with Cox to let her see Kyoko but was unable to get any response from him.

While running away from Yoko, Cox joined a cult based in California. Similarly, the cult member agreed to protect him and Kyoko from John and Yoko. He even changed her name to Ruth Holman.

After searching for many years, Yoko finally decided to end her attempt on finding Kyoko and wrote her a letter. In the letter, she wrote

Dear Kyoko,

All these years there has not been one day I have not missed you. You are always in my heart. However, I will not make any attempt to find you now as I wish to respect your privacy. I wish you all the best in the world. If you ever wish to get in touch with me, know that I love you deeply and would be very happy to hear from you. But you should not feel guilty if you choose not to reach me. You have my respect, love, and support forever.

Love, Mommy

Ono Finally Saw Her Daughter

More than 9 years had passed before Anthony finally contacted his ex-wife through a telegram after her husband’s death in 1980. However, there wasn’t any specific location mentioned in the telegram.

In 1997, Kyoko finally decided to contact her mother and they decided to meet after 26 years. At the time Chan was already 34 years old. The mother-daughter duo reconciled a year later in 1998.

Kyoko Chan Cox Was A Married Woman; Details On Her Love Life

Kyoko was previously married to a guy named Jim Helfrich. He was a lawyer by profession and was also a Christian. Besides this, not much is known about their marriage as she hasn’t disclosed much about their wedding to the media.

Unfortunately, the ex-couple decided to end their marriage on 18 January 2018. The duo was married for almost 20 years and welcomed two kids during that time.

They gave birth to their first child on 4th September 1997 in Denver, Colorado. Their first child was a girl named Emi Ono Helfrich. She is currently 25 years old. Emi Ono is a production assistant who has worked in Half Empty, Lisa’s Treasure, and Spring Street.

Similarly, the ex-couple shared their second child on January 9, 2000, and named him John David Yeisuke. He is currently 22 years old and is interested in music.

Kyoko Chan Cox’s Net Worth

Talking about her net worth, Kyoko has an estimated wealth of $1 million. Chan must have earned most of her money from the documentaries.

On the other hand, her mother has a massive net worth of more than $700 million. Likewise, her father has an estimated wealth of $4 million.