--- description: Laurene Powell Jobs is pushing back against claims in Lisa Brennan-Jobs's new book that details her relationship with father Steve Jobs. title: Steve Jobs' Widow Says His Daughter's Memoir Isn't 'the Husband and Father We Knew' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969da3bdad44bbde/698938ee8fd2ee2f4535c7ec/laurene-powell-jobs-small-fry.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Steve Jobs' Widow Says His Daughter's Memoir Paints a Picture That Isn't 'the Husband and Father We Knew' by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 28, 2018 11:11 PM CUT  Emerson Collective Founder and President Laurene Powell Jobs speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 at Pier 48 on September 20, 2017 in San Francisco, California. Emerson Collective Founder and President Laurene Powell Jobs speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 at Pier 48 on September 20, 2017 in San Francisco, California.Steve Jennings—Getty Images for TechCrunch by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Aug 28, 2018 11:11 PM CUT Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, is pushing back against a new memoir by his daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs, which details her story of what it was like to grow up with the Apple co-founder as a dad. The book, which comes out next week, has made headlines in recent weeks after an [excerpt published in _Vanity Fair_](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/08/lisa-brennan-jobs-small-fry-steve-jobs-daughter?mbid=social%5Ftwitter "undefined") and a New York _Times_ [profile of Brennan-Jobs](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/23/books/steve-jobs-lisa-brennan-jobs-small-fry.html "undefined") brought to light what critics have seen as Jobs’ frequent cruel and callous behavior toward his daughter. In the memoir, Brennan-Jobs recounts that her dad lied about naming a computer after her, told her she was “getting nothing” from him, and, at one point, said she smelled like a toilet. According to the _Times_, _Small Fry_ also chronicles moments between Brennan-Jobs and Jobs that could be seen as inappropriate behavior in front of his daughter. One moment in the book describes Jobs embracing Powell Jobs while “moaning” in front of Brennan Jobs and demanding that she stay in the room when she tried to leave. Powell Jobs and Jobs’ sister Mona Simpson, are now disputing Brennan-Jobs’s account in a statement. “Lisa is part of our family, so it was with sadness that we read her book, which differs dramatically from our memories of those times,” a joint statement reads. “The portrayal of Steve is not the husband and father we knew. Steve loved Lisa, and he regretted that he was not the father he should have been during her early childhood. It was a great comfort to Steve to have Lisa home with all of us during the last days of his life, and we are grateful for the years we spent together as a family.” Simpson gave the same statement, which was recirculated Tuesday by Business Insider, to the _Times_ for its profile of Brennan-Jobs. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5380968/steve-jobs-daughter-memoir-reaction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5380968/steve-jobs-daughter-memoir-reaction/"},"headline":"Steve Jobs' Widow Says His Daughter's Memoir Paints a Picture That Isn't 'the Husband and Father We Knew'","datePublished":"2018-08-28T23:11:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:16:59.148Z","description":"She discusses her experiences with him as a kid","url":"https://time.com/5380968/steve-jobs-daughter-memoir-reaction/","keywords":["Books","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969da3bdad44bbde/698938ee8fd2ee2f4535c7ec/laurene-powell-jobs-small-fry.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt969da3bdad44bbde/698938ee8fd2ee2f4535c7ec/laurene-powell-jobs-small-fry.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 - Day 3","caption":"TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 - Day 3","creditText":"Steve Jennings—Getty Images for TechCrunch","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5380968/steve-jobs-daughter-memoir-reaction/","name":"Steve Jobs' Widow Says His Daughter's Memoir Paints a Picture That Isn't 'the Husband and Father We Knew'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Stevenotes: A Mashup of Steve Jobs Keynote Speeches","description":"Classic moments from Steve Jobs at Apple events, from the launch of the first Macintosh in 1984 to the iPad in 2010","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/LqoqnUPG/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2011-10-06T02:43:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LqoqnUPG.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5380968/steve-jobs-daughter-memoir-reaction/","duration":"PT2M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5380968/steve-jobs-daughter-memoir-reaction/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```