Steve Jobs: His love and his life

Born out of wedlock and given away for adoption as an infant, the early life of Steve Jobs was one characterised by a search for his inner self and possibly, emotional turmoil. While the inner search led him to eastern mysticism, culminating in a trip to India in 1973, he also had a sting of affairs, most notably with American folk singer Joan Baez and Hollywood actress Diane Keaton.

Jobs had his own illegitimate child when he was 23, which was also how old his parents were when he was born. His biological parents — Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah “John” Jandali — were graduate students at the University of Wisconsin when Steve was born and given away to Clara and Paul Jobs, a workingclass California couple, who raised him. Just months after giving their baby up for adoption, Simpson and Jandali married, then had another child — the critically acclaimed novelist Mona Simpson — whom they kept.

Steve Jobs no more: His work, legacy

Jandali later abandoned his wife and 4-year-old daughter, moving from job to job as a political science professor before leaving academia. Jobs is said to have tracked down his biological mother as an adult with the help of a private detective; and his first serious girlfriend, Chrisann Brennan, the mother of Lisa, his illegitimate daughter.

For two years, Jobs denied paternity and at one point even swore in a signed court document that he could not be Lisa’s father because he was “sterile and infertile”. But he later acknowledged paternity of Lisa, who is now 29, a Harvard graduate and a writer. Jobs married Laurene Powell, whom he met at Standford University while he was speaking at a class. Jobs and Laurene, both vegetarians, have three children — Reed Paul, Erin Sienna and Eve.