Though Sting is a world famous singer and one of the world’s richest rock stars, the 68-year-old legend doesn’t give his kids financial handouts. The “Every Breath You Take” singer revealed that he told his children that they need to make their own money and support themselves.
Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, has six children. He shares daughter Fuchsia Kate, 37, and son Joe, 43, with his ex-wife Frances Tomelty. He also has daughters Mickey, 36, and Eliot, 29, and sons Jake, 34, and Giacomo, 24, with his wife of 27 years, Trudie Styler.
“I never intended to be a dad,” the former Police frontman told People. “I became a dad by accident six times — that’s how smart I am. Yet they were the happiest accidents of my life because they’re remarkable human beings.”
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He continued, “I can’t really take much credit for that, but they are, and they too have produced seven grandchildren at this point, who are also wonderful. So all of this has happened by accident. I didn’t intend to be the patriarch of a tribe, but I am.”
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“No parent is perfect, and I’m sure that there were times when it was great to be my child, and also times it was just a pain in the a**,” he admitted. “I’d go pick the kids up from school and other parents are asking for my autograph. That’s embarrassing for me and the kids.”
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The most important lesson he could impart to his kids was that they needed to support themselves. “My kids are fiercely independent,” he said. “They’re not sitting there waiting for a handout at all, and I wouldn’t want to rob them of that adventure in life:
to make your own living. It’s a wonderful and difficult thing to do. So I haven’t promised them anything. I’ll obviously help them if they’re in trouble, but they’re not waiting for a handout. They’re too independent.”
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The decision is based on Sting’s own life experience. The singer, who grew up in a shipyard town in northeastern England, said his parents thought it was impossible he’d be able to support himself with music.
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“You leave school and you get a job, so there was no idea of making a living out of playing music,” he said. “It would be absurd. Absurd. And of course it was. I just got through the gate by the skin of my teeth.”
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Before his music career finally took off in his mid-twenties, he worked as a teacher, which he thinks helped keep him grounded when he did strike big.
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“I was a father, and I was a husband, so I had a real life to compare this rather rarefied life that I was given: the life of success and fame. I could compare the two, and it kept my feet on the ground. I’m glad I didn’t have success at 16 or something, out of school. People don’t survive that,” the “Fields of Gold” singer said.
He continued, “I can’t really take much credit for that, but they are, and they too have produced seven grandchildren at this point, who are also wonderful. So all of this has happened by accident. I didn’t intend to be the patriarch of a tribe, but I am.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
“No parent is perfect, and I’m sure that there were times when it was great to be my child, and also times it was just a pain in the a**,” he admitted. “I’d go pick the kids up from school and other parents are asking for my autograph. That’s embarrassing for me and the kids.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
The most important lesson he could impart to his kids was that they needed to support themselves. “My kids are fiercely independent,” he said. “They’re not sitting there waiting for a handout at all, and I wouldn’t want to rob them of that adventure in life:
to make your own living. It’s a wonderful and difficult thing to do. So I haven’t promised them anything. I’ll obviously help them if they’re in trouble, but they’re not waiting for a handout. They’re too independent.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
The decision is based on Sting’s own life experience. The singer, who grew up in a shipyard town in northeastern England, said his parents thought it was impossible he’d be able to support himself with music.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
“You leave school and you get a job, so there was no idea of making a living out of playing music,” he said. “It would be absurd. Absurd. And of course it was. I just got through the gate by the skin of my teeth.”
Photo credit: INSTARImages
Before his music career finally took off in his mid-twenties, he worked as a teacher, which he thinks helped keep him grounded when he did strike big.
Photo credit: INSTARImages
“I was a father, and I was a husband, so I had a real life to compare this rather rarefied life that I was given: the life of success and fame. I could compare the two, and it kept my feet on the ground. I’m glad I didn’t have success at 16 or something, out of school. People don’t survive that,” the “Fields of Gold” singer said.
Photo credit: INSTARImages