Personal Life
His first marriage, to Jane Benyo, lasted 22 years from March 31, 1974 to September 9, 1996. He spent most of those years working, on the road or in the studio. Petty and Benyo have two daughters; Adria is a film director and Kimberly Violette is an artist. Since June 3, 2001 he has been married to Dana York, whom he first met in 1993 when she visited one of his concerts. Petty has a stepson from York's first marriage named Dylan.
On May 17, 1987, an arsonist set fire to Petty's house in Encino, California. Firefighters were able to salvage the basement recording studio and the original tapes stored there, as well as his Gibson Dove acoustic guitar. His signature gray top hat, however, was destroyed. Petty later rebuilt the house with fireproof materials.
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Famous quotes containing the words personal life, personal and/or life:
“Wherever the State touches the personal life of the infant, the child, the youth, or the aged, helpless, defective in mind, body or moral nature, there the State enters “woman’s peculiar sphere,” her sphere of motherly succor and training, her sphere of sympathetic and self-sacrificing ministration to individual lives.”
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“In the weakness of one kind of authority, and in the fluctuation of all, the officers of an army will remain for some time mutinous and full of faction, until some popular general, who understands the art of conciliating the soldiery, and who possesses the true spirit of command, shall draw the eyes of all men upon himself. Armies will obey him on his personal account. There is no other way of securing military obedience in this state of things.”
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“One of the sad realities of being a parent is that the same stuff you know is exciting, educational, and enriching in your child’s life is often messy, smelly and exhausting to deal with.”
—Joyce Maynard (20th century)