Sting (musician) - Personal Life

Personal Life

Sting married actress Frances Tomelty from Northern Ireland, on 1 May 1976. Before they divorced in 1984, the couple had two children: Joseph (born 23 November 1976) and Fuchsia Catherine (a.k.a. "Kate", born 17 April 1982). In 1980 Sting became a tax exile and moved to Galway in Ireland. In 1982, shortly after the birth of his second child, Sting separated from Tomelty and began living with actress (and later film producer) Trudie Styler. The couple eventually married on 20 August 1992. Sting and Styler have four children: Bridget Michael (a.k.a. "Mickey", born 19 January 1984), Jake (born 24 May 1985), Eliot Pauline (nicknamed "Coco", born 30 July 1990), and Giacomo Luke (born 17 December 1995). Coco is the current singer and founder of the London based group I Blame Coco. Both of Sting's parents died from cancer in 1987. He did not, however, attend either funeral stating that the media fuss would be disrespectful to his parents. 1995 found Sting preparing for a court appearance against his former accountant who had misappropriated several million pounds of his money. Sting owns several homes worldwide, including Elizabethan manor house Lake House and its 60 acre country estate near Salisbury, Wiltshire; a country cottage in the Lake District; a New York City apartment; a beach house in Malibu; a 600-acre (2.4 km2) estate in Tuscany; and two properties in London: an apartment on The Mall, and an 18th-century terrace house in Highgate. He also owns homes in the Caribbean, including one in the upscale community of Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic. Sting was estimated to have a fortune of £180 million in the Sunday Times Rich List of 2011, making him one of the 10 richest people in the British music industry.

To keep physically fit, for years Sting ran five miles (8 km) a day and performed aerobics. He participated in running races at Parliament Hill and charity runs similar to the British 10K. Around 1990 he met Danny Paradise who introduced him to yoga, and he later began practising regularly. His practice consisted primarily of an Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga series, though now he practices Tantra and Jivamukti Yoga as well. He wrote a foreword to the book Yoga Beyond Belief, written by Ganga White in 2007.

An avid chess player, Sting played Garry Kasparov in an exhibition game in 2000, along with four bandmates: Dominic Miller, Jason Rebello, Chris Botti, and Russ Irwin. Kasparov beat all five simultaneously within 50 minutes.

Formerly eating only animals that he raised himself, Sting now adheres to a macrobiotic diet.

In 1969 Sting read the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake and became a passionate fan. He later bought the film rights to the books, and also named household pets, a race horse, his publishing company, and even one of his daughters (Fuchsia) after characters from the books.

Sting is a supporter of Newcastle United, and in 2009, backed a Newcastle United Supporters campaign against the controversial plan of owner Mike Ashley to sell off the naming rights to St James' Park.

Sting is agnostic.