Steve Jobs was a genius who changed the world with Apple products, but many people also say he was a difficult and sometimes cruel person. Over the years, we’ve heard stories about how rude, mean, and selfish he could be to his employees, friends, and even his family. But his daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs’ new book, Small Fry, reveals even more disturbing details that show a darker side of him as a father.
A Shocking Childhood
We already knew that Jobs denied being Lisa’s father when she was born. It wasn’t until a DNA test proved he was the father that he started paying child support, and only because the court forced him to. Lisa’s mother, Chrisann Brennan, struggled to raise her daughter alone, barely getting by on low-paying jobs and welfare. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs was already making money from Apple.
Even after admitting he was her father, Jobs wasn’t much of a parent. He rarely visited Lisa, and for a long time, he denied that the Apple computer, the Lisa, was named after her. It took years before he finally admitted it, both to her and publicly.
Cold and Cruel Treatment
In her book, Lisa shares heartbreaking stories about growing up with Jobs. Even after he started paying attention to her, his behavior was often cold and cruel. For example, when Lisa was just 9 years old, he teased her about her romantic feelings, making her feel uncomfortable.
As a teenager, Lisa moved in with Jobs and his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, but things didn’t get much better. He forbade her from seeing her mother for six months, cutting her off from the one person who had always been there for her. Lisa was lonely and asked for a simple thing: that Jobs and Laurene say goodnight to her in the evenings. Instead of comforting her, Laurene coldly replied, “We’re cold people.”
Even worse, Jobs refused to install heating in Lisa’s bedroom, leaving her cold in more ways than one.
Disturbing “Family Moments”
The cruelty didn’t stop there. Jobs once made Lisa stay in the room while he and his wife, Laurene, were behaving intimately, calling it a “family moment.” He also constantly withheld money from her, telling her she would get nothing from his wealth. At one point, things were so bad that neighbors stepped in, offering Lisa a place to stay and even helping her with college costs.
The Real Pain: A Father’s Abuse
It’s bad enough when someone mistreats coworkers or friends, but hurting your own child is a different level of cruelty. Lisa’s stories show a pattern of emotional abuse, even though she doesn’t use that word herself. She seems to want to forgive her father and make peace with her difficult past. But many who have read her book feel like she endured much more than she’s willing to admit.
A Father, A Genius, and A Bully
Steve Jobs is praised as a visionary who helped save Apple and created products like the iPhone and Mac that changed the world. But behind the scenes, he was often harsh, rude, and controlling. His success at Apple was partly due to those around him tolerating his bad behavior, both in business and at home. His wife, Laurene, didn’t stand up to him when he treated Lisa badly, and many of his colleagues also looked the other way when he was cruel to employees.
A Complicated Legacy
There’s no denying that Steve Jobs was a brilliant businessman. He saved Apple from the brink of bankruptcy and helped it become the tech giant it is today. His inventions changed how we use technology, and millions of people owe their jobs to the company he built. But his success came with a dark side. He outsourced jobs overseas, avoided taxes, and mistreated many people along the way. In the end, his legacy is complicated: a brilliant mind, but often a terrible person.
We tend to glorify successful business leaders, focusing on their achievements while ignoring the harm they cause to those around them. Small Fry forces us to look at Steve Jobs in a different light. Yes, he was a genius, but he was also a deeply flawed and sometimes cruel man — even to his own daughter.
