Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon, was released from a Manhattan hospital Saturday afternoon after being treated overnight for the flu, according to her son and hospital officials.
“Thanks again for everyone’s concern,” Sean Ono Lennon tweeted just after 5 p.m. on @seanonolennon.
“She’s home and running about as usual,” he added. “Just the flu in the end. I may go get a flu shot now.”
Well-wishers from around the world greeted the news with gratitude after an initial scare prompted by law enforcement tips that the original 911 call from Ono’s Upper West Side home indicated the artist had “slurred speech” and was “possibly having a stroke.”
A person called 911 from Ono’s Upper West Side home at around 9 p.m. Friday and said the artist had “slurred speech” and was “possibly having a stroke,” sources said Friday.
She was then taken by ambulance to Mount Sinai West hospital.
Her son, Sean Lennon, who was spotted at the hospital Friday night, tweeted: “Only stroke @yokoono had was a Stroke of Genius! 🙂 She’s really fine. Thanks for all the well wishes! Big Love, Sean.”
The hospital, formerly known as Roosevelt, is the same facility where Lennon died after the former Beatle was shot by an assassin on Dec. 8, 1980.
Ono, 83, has lived in The Dakota on West 72nd Street and Central Park West since 1973. Lennon was fatally shot by Mark David Chapman in front of the building.
The avant-garde artist last month released a new album, “Yes, I’m a Witch Too,” a covers and remixes homage to her 2007 LP.
She became a symbol of the peace movement after she met Lennon in 1966 at a preview of her art exhibition in London. Lennon said in an interview that Ono came up to him at the gallery and handed his a card which said “breathe” on it.
“So I just went [pant]. This was our meeting,” Lennon said.
The two collaborated on art and music projects in addition to their ardent activism for world peace.
John and Yoko famously staged a “bed-in” during the Vietnam War in 1969.
Derived from the peaceful protests of a sit-in during the 1960s, the couple spent two weeks lying in bed at two separate hotels.
Yoko wrote and produced music with her husband under the name John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band.
Born in Japan, Ono survived the firebombing of Tokyo during World War II and came to the US at the age of 18. She attended Sarah Lawrence College, but dropped out.
An influential multimedia artist in her own right, Ono was known for her experimentation and unpredictable works.
Her 1964 performance piece titled “Cut Piece” consisted of the artist sitting on a stage next to a pair of scissors while audience members walked onstage and snipped off pieces of her clothing.
Additional reporting by Joe Tacopino, Emily Smith, Larry Celona and Abigail Gepner