# Why Did The White Stripes Try To Obfuscate The Nature Of Their Relationship? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 6, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-white-stripes-try-to-obfuscate-the-nature-of-their-relationship/836626 "2019-07-06T15:38:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-white-stripes-try-to-obfuscate-the-nature-of-their-relationship/836626/1 "2019-07-06T15:38:07Z")
The White Stripes tried to pass themselves off as brother and sister, until it came out that they had actually briefly been married. Why though? I get that the performers (Meg especially) prefer to keep the details of their private lives, well, private. But if that’s the case, why offer up the media a red herring instead of just saying, “I’d prefer not to answer”? It’s almost as if Jack & Meg were having a joke at the audience’s expense – a joke that was funny only to them. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-white-stripes-try-to-obfuscate-the-nature-of-their-relationship/836626/2 "2019-07-06T15:48:17Z")
Speculation: To fuck with people. There’s never been a reason given, but Jack has been known for feeding false info to the press about things in his personal life. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-white-stripes-try-to-obfuscate-the-nature-of-their-relationship/836626/3 "2019-07-06T15:49:59Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > It’s almost as if Jack & Meg were having a joke at the audience’s expense – a joke that was funny only to them. Not almost and not at the audience’s expense, IMO. Mr. White was fucking with people, prolly because he finds it somewhat amusing, but also because mysteries are good press. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-white-stripes-try-to-obfuscate-the-nature-of-their-relationship/836626/4 "2019-07-06T16:08:41Z")
I thought I remembered him saying, in an interview, that they did it because they felt that it was basically no-one’s business, and the nature of their relationship was irrelevant to their music. Can’t find anything about it online, though, so I may be misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-white-stripes-try-to-obfuscate-the-nature-of-their-relationship/836626/5 "2019-07-06T16:16:43Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Mr. White was fucking with people, prolly because he finds it somewhat amusing, but also because mysteries are good press. Yeah, this. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-white-stripes-try-to-obfuscate-the-nature-of-their-relationship/836626/6 "2019-07-06T22:36:34Z")
It’s kind of creepy, but NOT as creepy as all the teens who know every little detail of a performer’s life. One of my students (college, presumably past teeny-bopper years) was inconsolable because “Taylor” had “dropped a track” while the student had been distracted by class. At first I thought her mom had had a heart attack. She checked her phone during a break and literally screamed. Her friends rolled their eyes and said this was normal for her: “You should see her when ‘Taylor’ tweets about a relationship.” So I can see why a performer would want to mess with people like that (Ooh, boy, I can’t wait to put together a band… our playing will suck, but the draaaaama will be multi-layered…) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-white-stripes-try-to-obfuscate-the-nature-of-their-relationship/836626/7 "2019-07-06T23:13:18Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > It’s almost as if Jack & Meg were having a joke at the audience’s expense – a joke that was funny only to them. It was de stijl at the time. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-white-stripes-try-to-obfuscate-the-nature-of-their-relationship/836626/8 "2019-07-07T03:30:15Z")
The fact that you’re asking about it more than 20 years after the band formed shows what a genius publicity/attention getting stunt it was.