• Jane Benyo was born in Gainesville, Florida USA in 1951
• She is the first wife of the late Tom Petty, famous rock musician
• Jane inspired ‘’Edge of Seventeen’’, a 1982 single by Stevie Nicks
• She is rumored to have a net worth of over $1 million as of 2020, due to her ex-husband's estimated $75 million fortune
• Jane struggles with depression, and she was involved in a law suit against her ex-husband's widow, seeking $5 million of compensation.
Contents
Who is Jane Benyo?
Jane Benyo was born in Gainesville, Florida USA in 1951, so of American nationality. Jane is mostly known to the public as the first wife of the late Tom Petty, famous rock musician, and frontman of the legendary group ‘’Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’’ – Tom rose to fame during the 1970s.
Jane Benyo’s Bio: Early Life and Education
Jane has never disclosed any information about her parents, siblings or further education she may have had. Not even her exact date of birth is specified as Jane never spoke about herself to the media, keeping a private life; it’s known that she grew up in a working class family, but not even her parents’ names are known.
Jane knew Tom since she was a teenager – the couple started dating after they met in Gainesville High School.
Career and Net Worth
Jane inspired ‘’Edge of Seventeen’’, a 1982 single by Stevie Nicks. While she was married to Tom, Jane met Nicks and told her that the two met when they were seventeen, which Nick understood as edge of seventeen. The song achieved immense success leading to a Grammy Award Nomination in the category for the best female rock vocalist.
Her career development is not known to the public, as after marrying Tom, Jane dedicated herself to him and maintained huge support while he was achieving success in his musical career. Tom’s band was extremely popular – their album ‘’Damn the Torpedoes’’ from 1979 achieved double platinum status in Canada, and triple platinum in the US. Afterwards, album ‘’Hard Promises’’ (1981) went platinum in both Canada and the US.
Jane supported Tom when he decided to start a solo career too. This was a good career choice, as Tom’s solo album ‘’Full Moon Fever’’ (1989) also attained platinum status. As the wife of a famous singer, Jane became more and more popular too, and often participated with Tom in various professional and charity events. After Tom’s passing, Jane was one of the heirs of his estimated $75 million fortune. Authoritative sources estimate that Jane’s net worth is over $1 million, as of early-2020, but is expected to grow when her ex-husbands probate is declared..
Private Life
Jane married Tom on 26th of March 1974 and they have two children together. There were rumors that Tom initially did not want to marry Jane, but that his mother urged him to do ‘’the right thing’’.
After their wedding, Jane moved to Los Angeles with Tom so that he could pursue his musical career further. Their first daughter Adria was born in 1974, while their other daughter was born in 1982, and named Kimberly Violette. The couple divorced in 1996, after 20 years of marriage – it was discovered that their seemingly ideal marriage was deeply troubled.
The divorce was very public, with Jane threatening suicide and becoming obsessive, while Tom had an addiction to alcohol and drugs.
Before their divorce was finalized, Tom started therapy – in later interviews, Tom stated that Jane meant a great deal to him, and that he often found himself unable to let go of her.
Although he praised her for holding their family together while he was on tours, Tom also said that their relationship was abusive, and compared it to his parents’ marriage that was abusive too.
After the end of their marriage, Jane was not on the media’s radar until two years ago, when it was reported that Tom Petty died from cardiac arrest in his house in Malibu. Investigations discovered that Tom died of an accidental overdose, caused by consumption of various medications. In 2001 Tom married Dana York, whom he met at one of his concerts in 1991.
They remained together until his death, and he often credited her for helping him overcome his drug addiction, and for rebuilding his estranged relationship with Jane and his children.
— Tom Petty (@tompetty) February 2, 2020
Their daughters are also in the entertainment industry – Kimberly is an artist and fashion enthusiast, while Adria is an art director and editor who worked with many popular artists, such as Coldplay, Regina Spector, Beyoncé and Macy Gray.
Jane Benyo’s Rumors and Controversy
Jane struggled with depression for many years, and she could sometimes become verbally abusive towards Tom. In his 2016 book, ‘’Petty: The Biography’’ Tom described Jane as someone who is mentally ill.
Her family was involved in a law suit against Dana York as Jane’s and Tom’s daughters accused Dana of ignoring their rights of ‘’equal participation’’ in their fathers assets. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, and they both seek $5 million of compensation; the case is yet to be resolved.
Jane Benyo’s Height and Weight
Although Jane’s vital statistics, height and weight are yet to be revealed, she is known as a woman with a tall and slim fit figure, with blonde hair and brown eyes.
3 Comments
That song was not written for Jane Petty Stevie nicks didn’t even know Jane Petty enough to write a song about her listen to the words
Only the title, not the actual song was taken from Tom and Jane.
In an interview Stevie nicks said she did not write that song for her true she thought she said on the edge of seventeen that’s the only part of the song that even relates to Jane Petty if you listen to the words the song has nothing to do with Jane Petty and Stevie nicks even says I did not know the woman well enough to write a song about her