Sting on Why His Children Must Forgo His Fortune

Sting has opened up about pushing his six children to “make their own way” rather than funding their careers.

“All of my kids have been blessed with this extraordinary work ethic, whether it’s the DNA of it or whether I’ve said to them, ‘Guys, you’ve got to work. I’m spending our money, I’m paying for your education. You’ve got shoes on your feet. Go to work,'” he recently told CBS Sunday Morning .

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The musician believes that this approach to parenting isn’t “cruel,” but rather shows a kindness and “trust in them that they will make their own way. They’re tough, my kids.”

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He added, “I think the worst thing you can do to a kid is to say, ‘You don’t have to work.’ I think that’s a form of abuse that I hope I’m never guilty of.”

Among Sting’s children are actress Mickey Sumner and musicians Joe Sumner and Eliot Sumner.

Elsewhere in the conversation, Sting spoke about his musical The Last Ship , which imagines what his life would have been had he not won a scholarship for grammar school outside of his hometown of Wallsend.

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Adding that he loves to have the opportunity to work, Sting recalled the gigs he took while trying to break into music. “I worked in an office for a while,” he said. “I worked on building sites. I went to sea as a musician on a cruise ship, or I taught in a mining village all the time while I was playing in bands.”

According to Sting, he wasn’t aiming for superstardom, but just to “make a living as a musician.” He continued, “That still is how I define myself. I’m not a rock star.”

This is not to say Sting doesn’t care about making money. He reportedly earns £550,000, or about $740,000 in “Every Breath You Take” royalties each year — partially due to it being sampled in Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You.”

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His former bandmates in The Police, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, sued him in 2025, claiming he owed them between $2 million (£1.5 million) and $10.75 million (£8 million) in unpaid royalties. Earlier this year, it was reported he had paid the two over $800,000 (£595,000) in royalties since filing the lawsuit in September 2025.

Meanwhile, Sting is currently on the latest string of “Sting 3.0” power trio tour dates , which sees him joined by guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas as they cross the US for the remainder of May before touring Europe for the summer and returning to North America this fall. Tickets can be purchased here .

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_Originally reported by [Consequence](https://consequence.net/2026/05/sting-children-work-ethic/)._