John Lydon sleeps next to his wife's ashes.

The Public Image Ltd. frontman's beloved spouse Nora Forster died in April at the age of 80 following a long battle with Alzheimer's and the 67-year-old rocker admitted adjusting to life on his own has been "harder" than he expected.

He told The Times newspaper's Saturday Review: “Actually it has been much harder than I thought.

“I thought I would be able to handle this side of it, but it is, if anything, worse. I like to sleep with Nora’s ashes in the cupboard next to the bed because there is no expectancy of meeting her in this life again. And if there is a hereafter . . .Some of them rules I haven’t been following could prove a problem. It doesn’t bode well!”

The former Sex Pistols star admitted his loneliness has driven him to get back out on the road with PiL.

He said: “Now I don’t have anyone to share my life with. I am sitting in an empty house and all I can think about is Marc Almond singing 'The House Is Haunted by the Echo of Your Last Goodbye'. Might as well go back out on tour.”

Jon first met Nora in 1975 and is proud they had a strong marriage, which he credits to never taking his wife for granted.

He said: “I have seen relationships crash around me, especially when fame is involved, and I cannot help but think people were too flippant about their life partners.

"Nora and I argued a great deal but the arguments were so stunning that they made life worthwhile, and we were always honest and open about everything."

The 'Anarchy for the UK' hitmaker played Nora PiL's latest album, 'End of World', before she died and she approved of the record - apart from 'Hawaii', a ballad he wrote in her honour.

He said: "She used to squeal and bounce her hand up and down the whole way through.

"'Hawaii' was a precursor to death and she wasn’t accepting that. She fought to the bitter end.”