Sting spoke with CBS News Sunday Morning on May 3 about his past admission that he isn’t planning to leave his fortune to his kids. The singer claimed that the idea of telling his children that they don’t have to work is "a form of abuse that I hope I'm never guilty of."
He continued, "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.'”
Sting believes that, even though he has wealth to share, making his kids work for their own money is for the best. "That's not cruel,” the singer said. “I think that's there's there's a kindness there and a trust in them that they will make their own way. They're tough, my kids."
He originally spoke about the topic of their inheritance in a 2014 Daily Mail interview. "I certainly don't want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks,” he said. “They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate."
Although Sting admitted he would help his children if they were ever in trouble and reached out to him, he said, "They have the work ethic that makes them want to succeed on their own merit."
"They're not sitting there waiting for a handout at all,” he told People in 2020. “And I wouldn't want to rob them of that adventure in life: to make your own living. It's a wonderful and difficult thing to do. So I haven't promised them anything. I'll obviously help them if they're in trouble, but they're not waiting for a handout."
Sting has six children: Joe, Fuschia, Mickey, Jake, Eliot, and Giacomo. He shares them with Frances Tomelty and Trudie Styler.
