One of a few startling claims about the Apple co-founder made by his daughter in her recent autobiography is that Steve Jobs informed her she smelled “like a toilet” as he lay dying of illness.
In the newly published book Small Fry concerning Steve Jobs’s daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs, the software entrepreneur’s first daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, portrays their distant relationship and her emotions toward her father after he disavowed her paternity for many years.
Brennan-Jobs was ultimately acknowledged as his daughter, but until his passing, Jobs had an aloof and remote bond with his eldest child.
Who is Lisa Brennan-Jobs
On May 17, 1978, in Portland, Oregon, Lisa Nicole Brennan, now Lisa Brennan-Jobs, was brought into the world. Her mother, Chrisann Brennan, and father, Steve Jobs, dated intermittently for five years after initially meeting in high school.
After contributing to the establishment of Apple in 1977, Steve Jobs moved in with Chrisann and Daniel Kottke, one of his companions and colleagues. Chrisann became pregnant shortly after, but Jobs contested paternity.
In Steve Jobs’ absence, Chrisann gave birth to their daughter on All One Farm Commune in 1978. He eventually arrived three days after the baby was born, and the parents decided to give their child the name “Lisa.”
Jobs continued to refute fatherhood, though, and Chrisann terminated their relationship as a result. She resolved to raise Lisa alone while working as a house cleaner.
She also pursued the matter in court, where a legal agreement mandated Steve Jobs to pay Chrisann $385 monthly. Once he reached the million-dollar milestone, he elevated the payment to $500 monthly.
Later, Steve Jobs endeavored to reconcile with his daughter. The father-daughter duo reconciled when Lisa was nine years old after he repeatedly apologized to Chrisann.
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Following their reconciliation, Lisa decided to rebrand herself as Lisa Brennan-Jobs instead of Lisa Nicole Brennan. Concerning her education, Lisa attended the Nueva School while residing with her mother.
Subsequently, upon moving in with her father, she enrolled at Palo Alto High School. She pursued studies at Harvard University in 1996 and graduated. She also completed a year of study abroad at King’s College London.
Subsequent Years
Lisa Brennan-Jobs contributed writings to “The Harvard Crimson” while she was a student at Harvard University. After completing her studies in 2000, she relocated to Manhattan to embark on a career as a professional writer.
She contributed to Spiked, The Southwest Review, The Massachusetts Review, The Harvard Advocate, and other periodicals. Currently, Lisa Brennan-Jobs writes for magazines and newspapers as well as her blog and as a freelance author.
She has been referenced in numerous biographies of her father, including Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography, “Steve Jobs.” Additionally, she was depicted in Mona Simpson’s 1996 book “A Regular Guy.”
She has also made appearances in three biographical films “Jobs,” “Steve Jobs,” and “Pirates of Silicon Valley.”
Personal Life
Steve Jobs and Chrisann Brennan welcomed Lisa Brennan-Jobs into the world in Portland, Oregon. Her three half-siblings, Erin, Eve, and Reed, are the offspring of her father’s marriage to Laurene Powell Jobs.
She possesses a writer for an aunt named Mona Simpson. Her association with her father was turbulent. A computer project was bestowed the appellation “the Apple Lisa” by Steve Jobs shortly after she was born.
He repudiated being the father, asserting that the project’s name was an abbreviation of “Local Integrated Systems Architecture” and not named after his daughter.
Many years later, Steve Jobs acknowledged that his daughter served as the inspiration for the project’s name. After his demise, he left a sizable inheritance to Lisa Brennan-Jobs in his will.
Jobs’ connection with Lisa
Jobs and his daughter Lisa Brennan experienced a strained relationship. After spurning a paternity test for years, he ultimately admitted Lisa as his biological daughter after renouncing her mother.
In light of their fraught relationship, the scene in Steve Jobs where Jobs postpones the next phase in the digital revolution to apologize to his daughter and reconcile with her takes on added significance. The film is meant to be viewed with a dose of skepticism.
How Jobs (2013) portrays the father-daughter bond
The turbulent rapport between Lisa and Steve Jobs is fleetingly depicted in the 2013 film Jobs about Steve Jobs, where Ashton Kutcher embodies the lead character.
Jobs illustrates the emotional connection that evolved between the father and daughter over time, from initially rebuffing the paternity test and disclaiming Lisa as his daughter to eventually embracing her as his offspring.
The keynote address for the unveiling of Apple’s iconic iPod by Steve Jobs is groundbreaking, but it overlooks whether he made a commitment to bestow the music device upon his estranged daughter.
