He’s worth an estimated $245 million — but Sting says his children shouldn’t expect to inherit it.
The former Police bass guitarist and frontman believes leaving large fortunes to kids can actually do more harm than good.
“I think the worst thing you can do to a kid is to say, ‘You don't have to work,’” Sting says in an interview with journalist Mark Phillips on CBS Sunday Morning. “That's a form of abuse that I hope I'm never guilty of.”
Sting, whose career with Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland helped make The Police one of the biggest bands of the 1980s, says he wants his six children to build their own lives and careers without relying on his wealth.
The band’s five studio albums have sold more than 75 million copies worldwide, helping the singer — born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner — build a fortune estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.
But he says financial independence matters more than inheritance.
“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, ‘I’m paying for your education. You've got shoes on your feet. Go to work!’”
“I think there's a kindness there and a trust in them that they will make their own way,” Sting adds. “They're tough, my kids.”
When asked whether his children ever complain about his approach, he jokes: “No — not to my face, they don't.”
Sting first shared his stance publicly in a 2014 interview with The Daily Mail.
“I certainly don't want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks,” he said. “They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate.”
“Obviously, if they were in trouble I would help them,” he added. “But I’ve never really had to do that. They have the work ethic that makes them want to succeed on their own merit.”
The 74-year-old musician has two children from his marriage to actress Frances Tomelty — Joe, 49, and Fuchsia, 44 — and four children with producer Trudie Styler: Mickey, 42; Jake, 40; Eliot, 35; and Giacomo, 30.
Sting isn’t the only rock star to embrace a hands-off philosophy with his children. Dave Grohl has similarly said his daughter Violet Grohl built her growing music career without help from him.
The exact value of Sting’s estate could also be affected by an ongoing royalties dispute involving Summers and Copeland. The two musicians have argued they are owed roughly $2 million for their role in shaping Sting’s songs in the studio.
Summers has been particularly outspoken about the group’s biggest hit, “Every Breath You Take.” He says the track was nearly removed from the band’s 1983 album Synchronicity before he devised the electric-guitar riff that became its defining hook.
