Sting has six kids. He has two children with his ex-wife, Frances Tomelty, and four with his current wife, Trudie Styler. They are all between the ages of 30 and 49. In 2014, Sting mentioned that he wanted all of his kids to have a good work ethic and didn’t want to leave them big trust funds that would become “albatrosses around their necks.” He told People in 2020 that they were all financially independent.
Last week, Sting had more to say about his children’s financial situations. While promoting the international tour for his musical, The Last Ship, Sting elaborated on his decision to not leave his money to his kids. He wants them to work for a living and make their own way without his money or influence.
Sting is still supporting his kids, but without giving them unlimited funds. The singer, 74, laughed when CBS News Sunday Morning asked if he still plans on not leaving his fortune to his children. He then said he always intended for them to find their own way in the world.
Sting, whose real name is Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, explained to journalist Mark Phillips that he felt that telling children they “don’t have to work” is “a form of abuse that I hope I’m never guilty of.”
“All of my kids have been blessed with this extraordinary work ethic, whether it’s the DNA of it or whether I’ve said to them, ‘Guys, you’ve got to work. I’m spending our money,’ ” Sting continued. “‘I’m paying for your education. You’ve got shoes on your feet. Go to work.’ ”
“That’s not cruel,” the “Every Breath You Take” singer said. “I think that there’s a kindness there and a trust in them that they will make their own way. They’re tough, my kids.”
When Phillips asked if his kids ever grow frustrated with this philosophy and ask him for more money, he replied, “No, not to my face, they don’t.”
I really like Sting’s reasoning behind not wanting to turn his children into trust fund babies. He worked hard to get where he is and wants more for his kids than to just live off their mega-successful dad’s money. I also don’t think that’s cruel at all. He’s not even saying that he doesn’t want his kids to be nepo babies. He’s just saying that he wants them to do more than sit around and spend his money.
That said, an industry insider sent us a tip last week that Sting’s kids have been spending all of his money anyway, as has Trudie. I wonder if they’ve been doing this all along or if his 2014 public declaration put them in enough of a panic that they decided to live by the old “If you don’t use [your daddy’s hard-earned wealth], you lose it” mantra. I hope that Sting’s wised up over the last however-many years and has started to protect his money.
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- Trudie Styler mit Ehemann Sting bei der 64. Verleihung der Globi d Oro 2024 in der Accademia Tedesca di Roma Villa Massimo. Rom, 03.07.2024 *** Trudie Styler with husband Sting at the 64 Globi d Oro 2024 awards ceremony at the Accademia Tedesca di Roma Villa Massimo Rome, 03 07 2024 Foto:xA.xM.xTinghinox/xFuturexImagex globo_doro_4807,Image: 887166363, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Anna Maria Tinghino/Avalon
Photos credit: IMAGO/Anna Maria Tinghino/Avalon, Robert Bell/INSTARimages and Getty
Growing up wealthy and as the children of Sting, they’ve already gained the most important benefits of his money, anyway. They have lived in luxury, their educations have been financed, they have likely made connections (without too much effort), and they’ve been exposed to all kinds of insider knowledge that means they will pretty much always have an “in”. They would have to make an effort to not be successful.
I doubt he’ll leave them $0. It probably just won’t be tens of millions. They’ll be fine.
I’ve known kids from 1st generation wealthy families, where the parents made all the money and it was like, nothing for you kids. From what I could see, it created a weird intra-family class situation of haves and have nots. The kids were taken on lavish vacations, lived in luxury, but they themselves were comparatively penniless.
I think if your kids had soundly proven that they had a work ethic and made their own way well up through middle age, what are you getting by directing your posthumous funds anywhere but to them? What are you accomplishing?
When Sting passes his children will be old themselves. The era during which they could be stunted by wealth will have passed.
NoHope, I agree. Obviously I don’t know the details of this arrangement, but if I were to win the lottery in a big way, I would pay off our house, fund my kids’ college educations, and pay off my siblings’ houses and pay for their children’s educations. What a gift that would be. Everyone would still have to work, but the weight would be off their necks.
@NoHope,
I am presuming he’s leaving the bulk of his money to charity, which is a great accomplishment: to help make sure that children who did not grow up quite as privileged as his could have a bed or a meal or a college education. A hell of a lot better than giving his already privileged children an even more lavish lifestyle.
Not “leaving” them money doesn’t mean not giving them money/things now. Like buying houses, paying for weddings, vacations, etc.
Exactly it’s like the Ted Turner situation. Leaving an inheritance will get taxed but they probably received “donations” while the father was alive in way of real estate, stocks etc…
I love that he says his kids have a strong work ethic. That shows that he and their mothers have raised them well. The kids are alright.
Just because he says that, it doesn’t make it true. None of his kids have traditional jobs. They are all slashes: model/actor or musician/influencer etc. Only one of them, one of the daughters whose name I forgot, has had any real musical success.
I understand what he’s saying, but his kids don’t seem to be taking the kinds of jobs that truly independent people take. As adults, they all seem to be living trust-fund baby lives.
The parents I’ve known with this attitude have all been real assholes. They don’t deny themselves anything, raise their kids in a certain world and then deny them the ability to keep living in it after they die.
Once I flipped through a coffee table book that documented the lives of Hollywood kids (in this case it was mostly the wealthy babies of producers, etc not famous people). One twenty something who still loved at home was interviewed say that she’s completely dependent on her parents because she can’t afford the lifestyle she’s accustomed to. Notably, she would never go backpacking like her age cohort because she’s used to five star hotels.
I think there was probably some element of they didn’t raise a girl to follow in daddy’s footsteps as a producer so she had no skills and no money (presumably with the expectation of her marrying rich). Really weird and a form of financial abuse. BUT plenty of kids have made it in the world with no support from family, so my sympathy is already committed elsewhere.
A bit of sympathy, but at a sigh and move on level.
One of Bruce Springsteen’s kids is a firefighter back in New Jersey. That impresses me. Making sure your kids launch into a successful adult is part of being a good parent. Too many people these days seem to think it’s about happy babies.
There’s a Bruce Springsteen lookalike in a firefighter’s uniform somewhere? Why have I never known this? But joking aside, having a passion is so important. Many or most people are not blessed with having a job they’re passionate about beyond earning a living, but hopefully that job helps to support the things one is passionate about (their children, their part time comedy career, whatever).
I do have some kind of sympathy for rich kids who live life without a passion, and often mistake consumerism and plastic surgery for meaningful pursuits, but again, time is fleeting and worrying about people who live in luxury without purpose is not a great use of time.
Trudie has enviable bone structure. What a face!
Their son in one of the pics reminded me briefly but unpleasantly of Barron Trump.
They will be fine with all of the connections and opportunities that his wealth and fame have provided them. He probably has also given them money, etc. already throughout their lives for various reasons/occasions ,and if they have used it/invested wisely they have been far better off than most of the planet.
Sting and Trudie continue to be hot and a hot couple into their older years!
Always find these pronouncements from celebs quite irritating. Why broadcast your intentions? You made a fortune singing mediocre songs in a faux Jamaican accent. So give the kids and grandkids a good slab of dosh – why? because you can – and a good slab to charity.
lol thank you for giving me a good laugh. I hope my legs don’t break, walking on the moon…