The White Stripes Fooled Fans For Years With This One Lie

When the band came on the scene in the early 2000s, it was a breath of fresh air. At a time when pop-punk bands — such as Blink-182 and Sum 41 — and nu-metal acts — think Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park — were dominating the charts, Jack and Meg went against the grain. They were a throwback to simple yet raw and vital 1960s garage rock. But the duo were hiding something strange.

Everything about the White Stripes seemed different, even unique. For one thing, they were a two-piece instead of a full band. The duo’s visuals — from the clothes they wore on stage to their album art — made strict use of only three colors: red, black, and white. Oh, and there was also a compelling mythology behind their formation that began to spread through the media.

The White Stripes’ origin story was as unusual and fascinating as anyone could have hoped. Fans learned that Jack and Meg were a brother and sister from Mexicantown in south-west Detroit. And they were the two youngest of ten siblings. The band came into existence on Bastille Day in 1997 when Meg apparently wandered into the attic to begin banging on Jack’s drum kit for the first time. But the pair weren’t being truthful...

In fact, the band were telling tall tales to the press from the start. And it worked like a charm. The White Stripes became one of the biggest rock acts in the 2000s, while journalists and fans had no real idea of who these people actually were. But their biggest lie would leave even their greatest fans in total shock.

At first, it was just small things that started to sound not quite right. It was said that Jack’s house was completely red and white like their band uniform, for example. And when it came to light that the White Stripes had turned down a chance to sign with record label Bobsled just because their green logo would have ruined the album’s color scheme, people were also suspicious. So what was with all the bizarre rumors?

Perhaps the best insight into the world’s strange fascination with the band came in a Chuck Klosterman 2002 Spin magazine article. First of all, he pointed out that they were no novelty band. In fact, their music was genuinely revelatory. He wrote, “The White Stripes have done what great rock bands are supposed to do — they’ve reinvented the blues with contemporary instincts.” 

In truth, it was the raw, imperfect, retro vibe of their music that truly struck a chord with audiences. As Jack told Klosterman, “We have to go back. The last 20 years have been filled with digital, technological crap that’s taken the soul out of music.” Heck, even woman-of-few-words Meg chimed in at that point with, “The point is being a live band.” But apparently there was one particular explanation for all the deceit and rumors.

See, Jack told Klosterman that it stemmed from their desire to approach the band in the way that a child would. Basically, kids spin crazy stories and dress however they want simply because it’s fun — there’s no irony to it. He explained, “We wanted things to be as childish as possible, but with no sense of humor, because that’s how children think.” 

During this interview, Klosterman indicated he believed Jack and Meg’s personas to be performative, to a certain degree. He revealed that, during their chat, Jack ripped the label off his pants, which he perceived as a rehearsed theatrical act. But then he noted that this would surely be unlikely — if he did that during every interview, he’d constantly be buying new pants.

Klosterman also wondered if Meg’s shyness, which she displayed by hugging her pillow tight and mostly refusing to speak, was also part of her gimmick. He played along with it, though, before summing up the band’s appeal perfectly. He wrote, “It’s as if we don’t want to know the truth about the White Stripes. The lies are so much fun.” 

For the band, the aura that they’d created had a very specific purpose. But, to the public, it was hard to work out what that was —mainly because the White Stripes’ relationship with the press has always been strained. In fact, in 2003 Jack ranted to The Guardian about the media wanting to know everything about him and Meg.

“There was a lack of information coming from us, but a lot of need for copy,” an irritated Jack explained. “The one thing the… media hates is not being able to dissect someone so that every little part of their existence can be written as a soundbite in a paragraph.” He hated the idea of his and Meg’s lives, and their work, being distilled into a series of buzzwords.

Jack continued, “What they want is, ‘Jack White, 26 years old, likes race cars and soccer, grew up in the inner-city of Detroit and is now top of the world. Can’t stand chocolate ice cream.’ Everyone wants the inside scoop.” To Jack, this was not what the press should have been asking him about, and it aggravated him greatly.

Even Meg was moved to speak on the subject as well, though. She said, “I don’t want to know about my biggest idols. I don’t want to read their autobiographies. I don’t want to find out what they’re really like.” The White Stripes were very much of the opinion that distance between a celebrity and a fan helps to keep the mystery and romance alive.

It’s tempting to wonder if, in 2021, any artist could mythologize themselves as successfully as the White Stripes did. In the early 2000s the internet existed, yes, but it was nowhere near as pervasive as nowadays. Social media hadn’t taken over the world yet, and these were the final days when information couldn’t be immediately Googled with a smartphone.

Whatever the case, March 30, 2001, would prove to be the defining date in the history of the band’s little white lie. This was when the Detroit Free Press newspaper published a stunning story about the then-rising band. At the time, they were a few months away from the release of White Blood Cells, which would prove to be their breakthrough album. 

Buzz had been steadily building for a few years, with a good portion centered on the myth and mystery surrounding their origins. Journalist Christopher Walton had uncovered something shocking about Jack and Meg, though, and when he included it in his article, it caused quite a stir. He claimed the siblings weren’t actually brother and sister at all — they were once a married couple.

Walton had gained access to Oakland County’s Circuit Court records and found that Jack and Meg had been granted a divorce in March 2000. He also claimed that most people in the local Detroit rock scene knew very well that they had been married at one point. And yet, in his first interview for the story, Walton said Jack tried to perpetuate the lie again.

Then, when a second interview was conducted and Jack was asked about it again, he chose not to comment directly. All he offered was, “Frankly, we’re kind of tired with all the attention on the brother-sister thing. The White Stripes are about the music, and we don’t want that to be lost.”

Over the next few months, more outlets got wise to the band’s little ruse. Entertainment Weekly revealed, “The rumor is she’s his ex-wife,” on May 11 when writing about Meg. Then, on June 15, The New York Times reported on it too. The very next day then saw the publication of a Time magazine article that pulled the curtain back completely. 

Time claimed that Jack, then known by his original name John Gillis, tied the knot with Megan White in 1996. Unusually for the time, he decided to take her surname and legally became John “Jack” White. Jack reportedly did grow up in Detroit with ten siblings who were all older than him, but in reality, Meg was not one of them. He claimed she grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

According to Time, Jack and Meg formed the band in 1997 and set about recording their first album. And despite divorcing only three years later, they didn’t let it derail the band. Even though their marriage hadn’t worked out, their creative collaboration continued on more strongly than ever. When they were declared the next big thing by Rolling Stone magazine in 2001 the sibling fib was already in play.

By this point, you could be forgiven for thinking the jig was up and it was time for the band to come clean about everything. Bizarrely, though, that isn’t what happened at all. Jack was interviewed by music mag NME in August 2001, and he doubled down on the sibling story. He was adamant that he and Meg were indeed related, and even tried to play their supposed marriage off as tabloid gossip.

“We’re brother and sister,” confirmed Jack. “Someone started a rumor about how we used to be married and we played along with it. That was a bad idea, we get asked this all the time now.” Then, in October 2002 Jack used the Spin interview with Klosterman to deliberately muddy the waters some more.

To his credit, Klosterman asked Jack outright, “But why do you still tell people you’re siblings?” The eccentric singer replied, “We’ve given up. People can say whatever they want at this point. It never mattered to us. We were never trying to create this. We were never trying to be icons or hoping to get attention.”

When Klosterman, quite rightly, pointed out that their marriage certificate had been published in the pages of Entertainment Weekly, Jack cast doubt on its authenticity. He said, “I didn’t see any signature on that certificate. It certainly didn’t look real to me. If people don’t want to believe that Meg is my sister, that’s fine.”

Playing along slightly, Klosterman wondered why anyone would go to such lengths to fool people into believing they were once married. Jack replied, “Because America loves gossip. Everyone loves gossip. England loves gossip. Detroit is the gossip capital of the country.” He then claimed that, even if he told the world the truth, people would just want more gossip.

“If I told you that Meg is my cousin and that she has always been my cousin and I could prove it, people would say that’s a lie, too,” argued Jack. “People won’t believe the truth. And the reason we don’t want to talk about this is because it perpetuates the idea that we are trying to do all this on purpose.”

In the end, it took until 2005 for Jack to fully own up to their lie during an interview with Rolling Stone. To him, they had no choice — they had to put the lie out there in order to have people focus on their art, rather than their love life. He mused, “If we had presented ourselves in another fashion, how would we have been perceived, right off the bat?”

“When you see a band that is two pieces, husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, you think, ‘Oh, I see,’” continued Jack. “When they’re brother and sister, you go, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ You care more about the music, not the relationship.” While this reasoning may have seemed shaky, at least he had finally offered something to help people make sense of their strange lie.

Weirdly, though, Jack indicated he was offended at the idea he and Meg had tried to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes — even though that’s exactly what they’d done. He said, “It’s funny that people think me and Meg sit up late at night, in front of a gas lamp, and come up with these intricate lies to trick people.” All in all, it was hard to tell whether he was being serious or not.

In the end, the White Stripes burned brightly, but only for a relatively short time. After hitting the big time in 2001 with their third album, they released three more — 2003’s Elephant, 2005’s Get Behind Me, Satan, and 2007’s Icky Thump. In total, they recorded six albums in a little over eight years, and as they gained popularity the touring schedule was relentless.

In 2014 Jack told The New York Times that before they played a U.S. tour date in Mississippi in 2007 Meg had dropped a bombshell on him. He claimed she told him it would be the last White Stripes show, and he thought she meant the last of the tour. She then clarified, “No, I think this is the last show, period.”

An announcement was soon made that the remaining U.S. tour dates, and the planned U.K. tour, were being canceled due to Meg suffering from “acute anxiety.” Over the next three years, the band struggled to put together a new album, but it never materialized. Then in 2011 fans were devastated when time was officially called on the White Stripes.

Since then, Jack has made music with The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather and has also put out several solo records. Meg, on the other hand, disappeared from the music industry completely, which spoke perfectly to their opposite personalities. After all, it always seemed the White Stripes had been driven entirely by the eccentric but outgoing, Jack. By contrast, the painfully shy Meg faded into the background.

In 2012 Jack spoke with Esquire magazine and revealed some bittersweet thoughts about how he and Meg had related while the band was at its height. He said, “It’s strange to know that there’s beautiful moments that no one will ever know about. Moments on the stage, or in the studio. It’s whether or not I’m going to tell you because Meg’s never going to tell you.”

“There’s a sadness to that, a romance,” continued Jack. “When you experience something beautiful, the first thing you want to do is share it with people. In the White Stripes, it was impossible to share the good moments with Meg because she was very uninterested. If something nice happened to us, it wasn’t like we would hug or have a drink.”

All in all, it’s hard to come to a concrete conclusion on what really happened with the White Stripes, as the world has only heard Jack’s side of the story. Was the brother-sister lie his idea? Did he insist Meg played along? This would dovetail with some fans’ beliefs that he imposed his vision for the band on her. 

Or, from Jack’s perspective, was she as aloof and disinterested as he told Esquire? Did this leave him free to spread whatever kooky story he wanted? As he told the magazine, “It was just me by myself. But it was the best thing for me. It taught me a lot about trusting my gut.” We’ll probably never know the whole truth — which, to be honest, probably tickles Jack greatly. Every band has its secrets, though — including the White Stripes’ rival band in the early 2000s: Blink-182. The two bands competed for fans and airtime in an era when MTV was everything. But Blink 182's infighting, tragedy, and strife was truly next level.

Hoppus told Rock Sound TV about Blink-182’s first ever gig way back in 1992. He revealed, “We played this biker bar in south San Diego. It was the bartender, one patron, the three of us — we played one song, then the one guy said, ‘Can you please turn it down?’ so we turned it down.” After two more songs, the guy stopped them completely, saying, “Let’s call it. Have some Snapple, you guys earned it.” Ouch!

When Blink-182 formed, Hoppus, DeLonge and Raynor were all teenagers. They began spending hours jamming together and writing music in Raynor’s bedroom, which angered Hoppus’ girlfriend. She gave him an ultimatum — choose her or the band. Hoppus chose love. But then he found out that his pals were planning to record a demo, so he swiftly kicked her to the curb. The rest is history!

Hoppus and his wife Skye Everly have been happily married since 2000. But did you know they first met during rehearsals for the iconic “All The Small Things” music video? At the time she was a talent executive for MTV, and initially turned him down. Or more accurately, she turned DeLonge down when he embarrassed Hoppus by asking her out on his buddy’s behalf. Cringe!

“What’s My Age Again?” is arguably Blink-182’s best ode to immaturity, in a career loaded with them. Originally the song was titled “Peter Pan Complex” — a reference to the iconic literary character who never wanted to grow up. But the record company got cold feet, believing the band’s audience wouldn’t get the reference.

Get this — the band initially released their first album Cheshire Cat under the name “Blink.” But then an Irish electro band of the same name got wind of these new Californian pop-punks. To avoid legal action, the record label forced the band to come up with a new name. The boys stalled for a few weeks, and finally came up with “Blink-182” when put on the spot. 

Barker married former Miss USA Shanna Moakler in 2004, and their wedding day paid tribute to two of their favorite movies. The first was The Nightmare Before Christmas, with the drummer wearing the same pinstripe suit as Jack Skellington in the macabre animated classic. Then the couple walked down the aisle to the song “You’re So Cool” from the Quentin Tarantino-penned True Romance. Aww.

“Josie,” which appeared on the band’s 1997 album Dude Ranch, is about the best girlfriend in the world. In 2011 Hoppus confirmed on his Tumblr page that Josie was never a real woman — she was simply an idealized partner. The name “Josie” was actually inspired by Hoppus’ friend Elyse Rogers, of the band Dance Hall Crashers, as it was the name of her pet pooch! 

When people think of Blink-182, they think of the classic three man line-up immortalized in the title of their 2000 live album The Mark, Tom and Travis Show. But Barker wasn’t a founding member. He only came into the fold in 1998 after original drummer Scott Raynor left the band mid-tour. Barker reportedly learned Blink’s entire 20-song set in only 45 minutes. Whoa.

Warped Tour was an institution in American punk rock, with the travelling festival featuring nearly every major band in the scene over the course of its 25 year history. In 1996 Blink-182 played it for the first time, having been championed by Fletcher Dragge, guitarist of punk elder statesmen Pennywise. He reportedly told founder Kevin Lyman, “They’re gonna be gigantic.” Yes, Dragge could see the future.

Hoppus and his family lived in Mayfair, London for three years while the band recorded the album Neighborhoods. While there, he developed a taste for the local sport obsession — football! Or “soccer,” as he would have known it. He began supporting Chelsea football club and is still a fan to this day, keeping up with the team even while back living in California.

In the early days, Blink were known by a couple of bizarre monikers — Duck Tape and Figure 8. By the time they’d decided on Blink, though, they were gaining some momentum in the local punk scene. In fact, they secured a regular gig at a prestigious series of venues — San Diego’s YMCA centers! Hey, every “young man” has to start somewhere. 

On MTV’s Ridiculousness, Hoppus told the bittersweet tale of the day he met DeLonge. He chuckled, “I went over to his house. We were writing songs and I was like, ‘Hey, I just learned how to climb telephone poles.’” Naturally, this led to him scaling one outside DeLonge’s abode — but he hadn’t quite figured out how to get down. He thought, “I could just jump.” So, he did. And broke both his heels. 

2001’s “The Rock Show” had one of Blink-182’s most memorable music videos — precisely because it was crafted to fly in the face of tradition. The band had a budget of $500,000, and chose to blow it on crazy things like buying and releasing doves, destroying cars and TVs, and paying people to shave their heads. Satire? Or a waste of money? We’re not sure.

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and this was certainly the case when Hoppus wrote “Dammit.” One of the band’s most beloved songs was actually written in 10 minutes while he noodled with an acoustic guitar which was missing two strings. When creating the main riff, Hoppus had to skip over the absentee strings, and he felt this gave it a one-of-a-kind sound. 

Blink-182 don’t just make juvenile, super fun pop-punk music — they occasionally get introspective, too. Take “Asthenia,” from their 2003 self-titled album. It’s a haunting song about the isolation of an astronaut floating in space, high above the earth. The tune even features real NASA transmissions at the start — they’re from the Apollo 9 mission and give the song an extra sense of eeriness. 

These days, Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews is a national treasure. Forget Everybody Hates Chris, it should be Everybody Loves Terry! But back in 2004 he flexed his acting muscles in the band’s “Down” music video. He plays a Los Angeles cop who unsuccessfully pursues a gang member at a house party which, somewhat preposterously, features Blink-182 playing live. That’s some party.

Barker and his fiancé, reality star Kourtney Kardashian, are very much in love. So much so that in May 2021 he let her ink her devotion permanently on his arm. She posted a photo on Instagram of her holding the needle to her heavily-tattooed beau, alongside the caption, “I tattoo.” Barker replied, “Woman of many talents.” Love takes many forms, people. 

Jimmy Eat World blew up in 2001 when their single “The Middle” became a radio hit. Before that, though, they weren’t overly well known, but did have one celebrity superfan — Tom DeLonge! In fact, they played his wedding reception in May of that year, with DeLonge telling People magazine, “I was in tears. I cried more than any girl.”

The teen comedy Can’t Hardly Wait is based around a high school graduation party. “Going Away to College” is a Blink-182 song about the dilemma of breaking up with your high school girlfriend after graduation. They’re peas in a pod. A homesick Hoppus reportedly wrote the song on Valentine’s Day in 1999 after he watched the movie, which proves inspiration really can come from anywhere.

The phrase “everything happens for a reason” can truly be applied to DeLonge being expelled from Poway High School for drunkenness at a basketball game. Why? Because he had to move to Rancho Bernardo High School, which is where he met Anne Hoppus. When she heard he desperately wanted to start a band, she hooked him up with her brother Mark. Yes, that Mark!

During an appearance on Hoppus’ After School Radio show in 2021, DeLonge and his old bandmate laughed about an unusual tactic he used to score gigs in their early days. Hoppus said, “You were calling up schools and saying we were a band with a motivational edge to us…”. DeLonge replied, “Yeah, it was like [an] anti-drug, alcohol message or something. Whatever it took.”

Blink-182 cameo for 29 glorious seconds in 1999 teen comedy American Pie. This was before the band hit it big, and also not long after Barker joined them. In fact, it was so recent that the credits list former drummer Scott Raynor, instead of Barker. Whoops! The cameo is soundtracked by their song “Mutt,” which had been specially re-recorded for the movie. 

One of the truest indicators of fame is appearing on The Simpsons. And in 2003 Blink-182 played in Bart’s loft apartment after he moved out of the family home in the episode “Barting Over.” They joined a long tradition of rock bands starring in the show, including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, and fellow pop-punks Green Day.

When +44 formed, fans wondered if the name was a jab at DeLonge, who had just quit Blink-182 for the first time. But as Hoppus told IGN, it was actually a reference to the dialling code used when placing an international call to the United Kingdom. You see, a London date of a Blink European tour was where Hoppus and Barker first discussed making music on their own.

2021 proved a tough year for Hoppus but, thankfully, he emerged from it victorious. In June he announced to distraught fans that he was undergoing chemotherapy to combat lymphoma. But by late September he had good news — he was cancer free! To complete the happy ending, by Halloween he was performing Blink-182 songs on-stage with Barker at his House of Horrors event. Relief!

In a 2000 Rolling Stone profile it was mentioned that DeLonge’s obsession, outside of music, was aliens. Over the years he has doubled down, regularly talking about UFOs and fringe theories. He even started a company called To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences, which produces all kinds of alien-related learning material. 

The guys in Blink-182 aren’t just a band — they’re close friends. Hoppus was a groomsman at DeLonge’s wedding in 2001. He even received a silver yo-yo from Tiffany’s as a gift from the mischievous groom. Then in 2004 both Hoppus and DeLonge were groomsmen at Barker’s wedding to Shanna Moakler.

Blink-182 played two shows for American troops in the Persian Gulf in 2003. One took place on-board a freakin’ aircraft carrier. How cool is that? Hoppus claimed on Twitter years later that, while on that carrier, he gave a Navy Admiral some friendly advice on how to capture Saddam Hussein. His plan involved video camera time codes which could be used to triangulate Hussein’s location. Wow!

In February 2005 Blink-182 went on “indefinite hiatus,” which is pretty much industry-speak for “they’ve broken up, sorry.” For three long years, they didn’t speak at all, choosing to concentrate on their various side projects. Yup, there was a lot of bad feeling, especially between Hoppus and DeLonge. But then something tragic happened which brought them into each other’s lives again.

On September 19, 2008 Hoppus received a shocking phone call in the middle of the night. Barker had just survived a plane crash and was in hospital with burns over 65 percent of his body. The worried bassist hopped on the first available flight. For his part, DeLonge sent Barker some well-wishes. Putting aside their differences, the tragedy eventually opened the door for the band to reunite.

The 2011 comeback album Neighborhoods was not a fun experience for the band in some ways. For one, the members had a parade of attorneys, publicists and managers surrounding them. As DeLonge told Alternative Press magazine, “It’s the absolute diarrhoea of bureaucracy that surrounds our band. It’s ridiculous. It’s very hard to get things accomplished in this band because there’s so many of those groups of people.” 

According to Barker’s memoir Can I Say, DeLonge was super unhappy in 2014 and it led to some erratic decisions. Barker wrote, “Around this time, he abruptly quit the band; he e-mailed me and Mark saying that he was through with the band, and with us. Then the next day, he e-mailed us again saying we should forget everything he just said, and he wanted Tony Robbins to do group therapy with the three of us.”

Like most rock stars, the guys in Blink-182 are pretty inked up. Barker, for instance, is covered almost head-to-toe in tattoos. DeLonge has a decent collection too, including a large neck piece featuring the word “Illuminated” inside angel wings. But Hoppus stayed resolutely un-inked for years, until he got his wife and daughter’s names on his wrists. Aww.

Barker is now arguably the most famous member of Blink-182. He’s constantly in gossip headlines due to his relationship with Kourtney Kardashian, for one thing. But did you know he was once a reality star himself? He and ex-wife Shanna Moakler let MTV’s cameras into their lives in 2005/06 for Meet the Barkers. It lasted two seasons. 

Before they got together as a couple, it was known that Kardashian and Barker were good friends. But many fans had forgotten that he had actually made an on-camera appearance in Keeping up with the Kardashians in 2017. At this point, he was her neighbor and the pair were seen talking about respectively homeschooling their kids.

During an episode of Hoppus On Music, Blink’s bassist explained the significance of the number “182.” Spoiler alert: it has no significance. He laughed, “We just made up the name 182 and ever since then we’ve just made up different stories about what the 182 means.” At different points it has been Hoppus’ ideal weight, and the number of times Al Pacino drops the F-bomb in Scarface!

The band have always been vague about why Scott Raynor departed in the middle of a 1998 West Coast tour. According to Joe Shooman’s Blink-182: The Band, The Breakdown & The Return, though, Raynor suffered a tragic family loss and it led to him drinking to cope with his emotions. This began to affect his performance on-stage, and culminated in Hoppus and DeLonge firing him over the phone. A sad situation.

The “Enema of the State” album artwork, which features a sexy nurse, is now iconic. But did you know the model is actually adult actress Janine Lindemulder? According to producer Jerry Finn, the guys in the band were such innocent dorks that they had no idea who she was. Once they found out, though, they became super interested. As Lindemulder told Entertainment Weekly, “They’re like little boys — just curious.”

To DeLonge and Barker, the name of their 2001 side project Box Car Racer had very different meanings. To Barker, it simply repurposed the name of an old band he was in after high school — a name that meant nothing. But to DeLonge, it was a reference to the atomic bomb that exploded above Nagasaki. The bomber it was dropped from was named “Bockscar,” which many misspell as “Box Car.” 

If you’re celebrating the Holidays and you’ve become sick of the standard Christmas songs you always hear, Blink-182 have you covered. Throw on “I Won’t Be Home For Christmas” or “Not Another Christmas Song” and you’ll laugh your face off. Seriously. They’re funny. On another note, you could even listen to “Boxing Day,” a more sincere holiday-themed song. It has a weird electronic indie sound that is quite unique for Blink.