On another, lesser, part of the internet is a discussion of Eve Jobs, the daughter of Steve Jobs. I think she is a Private Person, and so she ought not to be discussed publicly unless she becomes a news item, but that is just me.
Let’s not talk about her. Let’s talk about a private person who is simply related to a famous person.
So what is it like to be the kid of a public personality like Steve? Sure Christmas would be awesome, but some other things come to mind.
Does she (or a person like her) have security issues? Even in America I would presume she is at some risk of kidnapping. What sort of school does she go to? Can she (or a person like her) have anything like a normal life?
Anyone know anyone in such an awkward situation? “What is it like?”
One daughter of our across the street neighbours’ was kidnapped. Her father was a fairly sucsessful business man, but not insanely wealthy. This happend in the 1970’s in Calgary.
If she has big titties than everything is going to be all right…
I’ve seen some of those E! type shows about the kids of celebrities. Seems like many of them end up with privileged but very unfulling lives. Of course there are always exceptions, but that seems to be the general feel I’ve picked up on. ymmv
My parents are both millionaires individually. Not a pair to be in the news regularly, and probably worth a good bit less than Jobs, but to give your question a go anyways:
So what is it like to be the kid of a public personality like Steve?
I suspect it will depend a bit on what kind of school you’re sent to. I was in public school until high school and hung out with the son of the bus driver, another kid who’s mother beat him and the courts sent him to live in Los Vegas with his dad, and another guy who was a stand-up native american guy. None of us or anyone in my class had any problem with my family being rich and (semi) famous. I didn’t keep it secret and I didn’t wave it around.
My high school was a private school, but was actually not as jam-packed with rich kids as one might have suspected. Mainly lawyers and doctors kids. So, not a big change except they were all dumb-ass potheads (qualitative measurement )
I met a lot of rich kids who did go to the ritzy schools, got their own car when they were sixteen, etc. etc. Some were condescending, beautiful and expected your service, did petty things (like shoplifting) for no reason, etc. A bit funner to hang out with than dumb-ass potheads in my opinion just because they’re a bit funner and can talk without going “Whooah, dude, I just thought of the coooolest thing! …Shit I forgot.”
But in general when you’re a rich kid you have the three options of:
“Yeah I’m rich. No I’m not going to lend you money, yes you can play my nintendo when you come over.”
Be embarassed and shameful of being rich. My brother was slightly this way and somewhat did get in the habit of feeling like he needed to pay for drinks for everyone or whatever. Course he’s now always broke.
“Hohohoho! I am rich! Touch me and I shall bless you with the joy of being in my presence!” (<-female-mostly) “Dudes lets go out and get some prostitutes and race cars!” (<-guy-mostly)
Even in America I would presume she is at some risk of kidnapping.
Well, certainly. Everyone is. The question is much more of whether you’re a mark than if you are rich though–as I understand it.
Personally I just made up in my mind that anyone touches me I’m going to go feral on their asses. Never much asked anyone else, so no idea if any families prepare for or discuss this eventuality. The only time I ever saw anything mentioned was a self-protection class on a rich-people cruise (group called YPO) where the gist was, someone comes at you with a knife, grab the blade and start pounding. Generally you’re probably more at risk at lower incomes than higher though.
Can she (or a person like her) have anything like a normal life?
Yep. Act normal and life is normal. Act like Paris Hilton and you get a Paris Hilton life. Act like a deadbeat and you end up a deadbeat.
"What is it like?"
Largely the same, but more money.
Ah, I should mention that there is a fairly big gap between East Coast rich and West Coast. Generally Easterners will be more into the whole “rich” thing with tuxedos and servants.
There was a documentary called “Born Rich” by one of the heirs to the Johnson & Johnson fortune. It was about him and his peers and about how their lives were. (Now these were generally twentysomething adults and not kids.) At the beginning, he described a meeting with his father when he turned 21, where he was advised to get a hobby, something like collecting rare and historic documents. One heir described the painful process of getting a custom suit tailored.
If you’re interested in the lives of the super-rich, you might want to rent it.
I was surprised to hear that Bill Gates has three children now. It’s generally pretty easy for me to forget he’s married, even though I met someone once who knew Melinda a Duke.
I’ve always thought it spoke very highly of the Gates & Jobs families both that their kids are not making headlines. Unlike certain heiresses I can think of, I mean. They’re not having 10 million dollar barmitzvahs or starring in reality shows or busted for underage dr & drugs.
But it must be a lot of pressure to live up to the Gates & Jobs mystique. What if the kids are just average smart?
I’m not sure how old Jobs daughter is, but I can ask my dad if he’s ever met/seen her. (?) I know he hasn’t met Gates’ kids since he’s retired about when Gates got married.
In a related vein, I’ll point out that Steve Jobs also has a son (name of Paul, IIRC). There are a few anecdotes of Steve and son vacationing in Hawaii in The Second Coming of Steve Jobs.
This just speculation, but I’m guessing where you live at plays a role. Gates and Jobs as far as I know have spent most of their lives in the Pacific Northwest so their kids were probably raised in a relatively understated envorinment.
If you’re rich and famous in NYC or SoCal things are liable to get nuttie both due to the constant media attantion and culture of celebrity.
Steve Jobs has lived almost all of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area (born in SF, now lives in Palo Alto), not the PNW. He did go to Reed College in Portland for one semester, however. His current Palo Alto home is comparatively understated by multimillionaire standards.
Like the PNW, the Bay Area doesn’t have a huge “cult of celebrity”, at least compared to Southern California.
Also bear in mind that although he’s quite famous, Jobs is not in the Bill Gates über-rich league.
I know, but from my Midwestern perspective NoCal can fall into the PNW grouping. I suppose locals prefer a distinction, but from a cultural standpoint NoCal is probbaly more similar to Seattle/Portland than it is to LA.
I guess if the Dakotas can be called Midwestern, NoCal can be PNW.
Jobs was a notorious deadbeat dad to his oldest daughter, Lisa, who was born out of wedlock when he was young. He named a computer for her but he refused for years to acknowledge or pay support for her even though he was getting constantly richer and her mom was in dire straights. (It’s since been resolved and Lisa is now an active member of his family.)
The reason I mention this isn’t just to trash Steve Jobs… well, actually I guess it sort of is. The point is that Jobs has a reputation as an arrogant selfish asshole, and because of his money and his power he has major reinforcement that he’s right about everything. Living with that type of personality in the house- one who can deny his own child because he’s p.o.d the mother left him and the like- could make you miserable no matter how much money the family had. It’s better than living with a cold and abusive father in the slums, I suppose, but it’s still not going to be a happy childhood.