Mick Jagger Explains What He Won't Do to Support His Kids

"The children don’t need $500 million to live well."

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has been nearly as prolific in his personal life as in his decades-spanning music career. He's the father to eight children, the youngest he welcomed with his current girlfriend, ballet dancer Melanie Hamrick, in 2016. And that's not counting five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

And while nearly every parent wants the best for their children, in a wide-ranging Wall Street Journal profile—as the band prepares to release its first original new material in 18 years—the Jagger insinuated that there's a limit to what kind of financial support he's ready to offer.

When asked if the Stones were planning to sell their post-1971 music catalog, the rocker, who just turned 80 in July, responded with a definitive "no."

The publication points out that while Jagger is aware that "a tidy lump sum of cash might leave a less byzantine legacy for heirs," he seemed unconcerned. "The children don’t need $500 million to live well," he said. "Come on.” 

"Maybe it’ll go to charity one day. You maybe do some good in the world," he added, noting that there are other ways to support his family after he's gone. "You can have a posthumous business now, can’t you? You can have a posthumous tour."

Jagger likewise said that he's not planning to publish an autobiography, which is a tried and true way for any high-profile celebrity to turn a quick profit.

That said, even without his Stones catalog money, his heirs will likely be more than set up for life. Until this year, while working on the new record and because Jagger wanted to take the summer off, the band had toured for nearly a decade straight, only missing 2020 during the height of the pandemic. And that's in addition to at least a handful of Rolling Stones tours every decade since the 1960s.

The kids, as they say, are alright.