Julian Lennon has used the coming occasion of the 20th anniversary of his father John's assassination to label him as a "manipulated lost soul" who was "sucked into a black hole" during his marriage to Yoko Ono. In a statement, Lennon says of his father, "Once I began to look at his life and really understand him, I began to feel so sorry for him, because once he was a guiding light, a star that shone on all of us, until he was sucked into a black hole and all of his strength consumed."

The statement, which is available in full on Julian's official Web site, continues, "Although he was definitely afraid of fatherhood, the combination of that and his life with Yoko Ono led to the real breakdown of our relationship. We did not see each other for extended periods of time and, as the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind."

At age 37, Julian Lennon is still intensely bitter about his dysfunctional relationship with his late father. "How are you supposed to define your own character when all people want from you are answers about someone else's life, a life that you don't have answers for?," he says. "I am not John Lennon, I never will be! I have never lived his life and never will do! Yet a lot of people believe I have all the answers! Well - I don't!"

In particular, he is pained by the dichotomy of John Lennon the rock superstar and John Lennon the human. "I had a great deal of anger towards Dad because of his negligence and his attitude to peace and love," he says. "That peace and love never came home to me."

Lennon was shot to death on Dec. 8, 1980, outside his apartment building in New York. A vigil in his memory is scheduled for tomorrow in the "Strawberry Fields" section of the city's Central Park. He did not live to see the release of Julian's 1984 debut album "Valotte," which peaked at No. 17 on The Billboard 200 and featured the top-10 hits "Too Late For Goodbyes" and the title track.