Tom Petty’s Children: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Tom Petty died at the age of 66 on Monday. TMZ reported that the legendary musician entered “full cardiac arrest” Sunday and was unable to come out of it.

Petty was found unconscious and not breathing at his home in Malibu, California on Sunday. Law enforcement officials told TMZ that emergency personnel who rushed to the scene were unable to find a pulse on Petty and his brain was unresponsive. He was later taken off life support at the hospital, where he died hours later.

Tony Dimitriade, Petty’s manager, released a statement on behalf of his family saying that he passed away “peacefully” with his family members, band members and friends at his side at 11:40 p.m. Eastern.

Petty is best known for his time with the band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The singer, who sold over 80 million records in his lifetime, recently ended a nationwide tour with its last stop being at the Hollywood Bowl last Monday.

Petty was married twice in his life and had two daughters and one stepson.

Here’s what you need to know about Petty’s children:

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1. Petty’s Daughters Are From his First Marriage

After dating for years as teenagers, Petty married Jane Benyo on March 31, 1974. Benyo told Petty’s longtime friend Stevie Nicks how old the two were when they met, but Nicks misheard her. The miscommunication led to be the creation of her song “Edge of Seventeen.”

Benyo and Petty had two daughters together: Adria and Annakim Violette.

However, drug addiction plagued Petty and Benyo’s marriage, and they filed for divorce in the mid 1990s. The divorce was finalized on September 9, 1996.

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2. Adria Has Directed Music Videos for Acts Such as Beyonce & Coldplay

Adria Petty came to be a film director and is known for directing music videos for superstars in the entertainment industry. Those artists include Beyonce, Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Rihanna and Macy Gray. She directed two of Beyonce’s music videos: “Countdown” and “Sweet Dreams.”

In a 2015 interview with Models.com, Adria said she named her daughter Everly after one of her father’s guitars. She’s currently based in New York City and said she feels “very connected” with the city.

“I just look forward to sharing it with her at every stage of her development because I love New York so much and I love my friends here so much that I just am excited for her to have that cultural impact and the kind of joy that I get from my friends who are my family here,” she said during the interview.

Adria created several chapters of a personal biography called “Relentless,” and she filmed them while pregnant with Everly.

During a 2014 interview, she said her family lived in a motel, and her bed was in a dresser drawer. She credited her father with encouraging her to go after directing.

“My dad actually pushed me into film,” she said. “I think he knew that I was visual. As soon as I shot some film, I was like this is absolutely what I want to do.”

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3. Annakim Violette Found Success as an Artist

While her sister is active in the entertainment industry, Violette forged a career as an artist and designer. She spoke about what inspires her in a 2011 interview with StyleLikeU.

“The only way I feel we can relate to people is get past all the labels like, ‘This person is college educated or not,’ or sober or not sober, or they know fashion or they don’t,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, you’re lucky to be here right now. There’s people being bombed all over the world.”

Violette said she grew up traveling a lot, so she doesn’t see herself as hailing from one specific part of the world. She told LA Weekly in 2010 that she has a cat and four dogs — one is a wolf hybrid.

“It’s not that I don’t see a dark side, but the dark side doesn’t look any different to me than the light,” she said to the publication. “The brighter the light, the darker the shadow.”

Violette said during the interview that she never saw herself as a “fashion person” and isn’t a fan of cosmetic surgery or trends. Instead, she said she “loves costumes” and hates the fashion industry.

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4. Petty Has a Stepson Named Dylan

Five years after his divorce with Benyo, Petty married Dana York, who he met during a concert in Texas in 1991. They didn’t reconnect until 1996 and married five years later on June 3, 2001.

York had a previous marriage herself and had a son with her former husband. Her son’s name is Dylan, and he’s Petty’s stepson. According to his Facebook page, Dylan lives in Malibu and was born in Bellaire, Texas. Photos to his Facebook page indicate he works as a DJ.

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5. The Petty’s Home Was Burned Down in 1987

In 1987, the Petty family dealt with the loss of their home in Encino, California.

Petty revealed that the family was just sitting down for breakfast May 17, 1987 when they started smelling smoke. Soon enough, the home was engulfed in flames, UltimateClassicRock.com reported.

Petty was able to get Benyo, Adria and Violette out of the home in time and then tried to save the home alongside his housekeeper. But the two lost the battle and the housekeeper sustained minor injuries. The only room that was kept intact was his basement. They lost almost everything else.

Fire investigators later determined an arsonist drenched the back staircase of the home in lighter fluid, and Petty said the family was “shaken for years by it” in a 2005 book by Payl Zollo.

“It’s sort of like being raped, I would imagine,” Petty said in the book. “It really took a long time. And it was 10 times as bad, because you knew that somebody just went and did it. Somebody tried to off you.”

Adria commented on the fire during an interview. She said: “From that point on, I don’t really care about stuff. I don’t have things that matter to me. People matter to me. I think that if we don’t recognize we have the power to manifest what we want in our lives, we’re missing out.”

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