Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different: A Biography

by Karen Blumenthal

Though Jobs’s slice of Apple was worth millions of dollars by then, he only occasionally provided any financial help and continued to deny that he was the father. At one point, he even signed a court document saying he wasn’t physically able to have children. Meanwhile, Brennan worked at odd jobs and lived on county welfare payments. In 1979, when DNA tests were new, Jobs surprised Brennan by agreeing to settle the matter once and for all. The paternity test concluded there was a 94.41 percent chance that he was the father. Still, he insisted to friends, people at Apple, and even reporters that, statistically, someone else could be the father. Finally, the county of San Mateo sued Jobs and he was ordered to pay $385 a month in child support and to repay the county $5,856 for welfare payments it had made. “I could not see myself as a father then, so I didn’t face up to it,” he said. He later regretted his behavior, saying, “I wish I had handled it differently.” Over time, he bought Chrisann a house, paid for Lisa’s schools, and supported her financially. But it would be a long time before he would actually be anything like a father to Lisa. In a strange twist of fate, Jobs was twenty-three when Lisa was born, the same age as his own biological parents when