John Lydon is terrified of pork chops.

John Lydon

John Lydon

The former Sex Pistols singer has admitted he won't go "near" the slab of meat out of fear he'll get sick after he was hospitalised for meningitis when he was seven years old the morning after he munched out on the piggy cutting.

He explained to the Observer newspaper: "I caught meningitis at seven. I went into a coma for three months and stayed for much of a year.

"I'd had a park chop the night before I was hospitalised and I've associated pork chops with illness to this day."

He added: "I can't go near a pork chop, I just can't, although nothing will keep me away from my smoky bacon."

The 59-year-old rockstar - who is also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten - previously opened up about his battle with the life-threatening infection, which in some cases can damage the nerves and brain, and admitted the illness left him unable to recognise his own parents.

He said three years ago: "Not being able to remember your own name or your mother and father, or anything at all, and for little bits of that to be coming in over a period of four years, that's pretty close to torture."

He added: "I had to believe these were my mum and dad. They were kind. They seemed to want me. The hospital did not seem to want me.

"I had no place else to go. But it was murderously cruel and tortuous, mostly because I thought inside it must be my fault. I must have done something wrong."