Jane Benyo Biography & 6 Quick Facts About Tom Pettys Ex-Wife

Jane Benyo is popularly known as the first wife of famous rock musician Tom Petty. She fell into the limelight in the 1970s when she married Petty, who was enjoying a phenomenally rising music career at that time. Tom Petty was the legendary leader of the American rock band “Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers”.

The couple had 2 children together, however, their marriage ended in divorce in 1996. The union seemed like a fairy tale, however, details that emerged after their divorce showed that it was a tortured union.

When her marriage to the famous rock legend ended, Jane Benyo flew off the media radar. Her name resurfaced in the media in 2017 following the death of her ex-husband, Tom Petty. Petty died on October 2, 2017, after suffering total cardiac arrest in the early hours of the day at his home in Malibu. According to the medical examiner, he died from an accidental overdose of various drugs.

Jane Benyo Biography

Jane Ann Benyo was born in Gainesville, Florida. While she is known as the first wife of rock legend Tom Petty, details of her early life are not known to the public.

Benyo met Petty when she was just a teenager. The two lovebirds had a marriage that spanned more than two decades and they had two children together. Their marriage seemed glamorous and happy on the outside. However, it turned out that the marriage was actually unstable, as evidenced by the gory details revealed at the end of the wedding.

The divorce was hard on both parties. Jane Benyo became obsessed and threatened her ex-husband with suicide calls. Tom Petty, for his part, was also addicted to alcohol and heroin. However, he went to therapy even before their marriage ended.

Eventually, Petty remarried on June 3, 2001, to his second wife, Dana York Epperson, whom he had met in 1991 at one of his concerts. The legendary rock musician credits his second wife with helping him beat his drug addiction. Dana York also helped him rebuild his relationship with his children. Their marriage remained intact until the death of Tom Petty in 2017. The famous rock leader died at the age of 66.

6 Quick Facts About Tom Petty’s Ex-Wife

1. Meet Tom Petty

Jane Benyo met Tom Petty when they were both in high school in their hometown of Gainesville, Florida. The high school sweethearts maintained their relationship for a while and ended up living together.

2. Jane Benyo’s wedding

At the age of 24, rock legend, Tom Petty married his first wife, Jane Benyo, on March 26, 1974. After their marriage, Benyo moved to Los Angeles with Tom Petty, where he continued his flourishing musical career.

3. children

The couple had 2 children together, daughters Kimberly Violette (born in 1974) and Adria (born in 1982). Kimberly “AnnaKim” Violette is an artist and fashion enthusiast. She changed her last name from Petty to Violet just because her favorite color is ultraviolet. She paid a glowing tribute to her rock star father after he passed away in October 2017. Adria Petty serves as art director and editor. She has worked on music videos for artists such as Beyoncé, Coldplay, Macy Gray and Regina Spektor.

4. Edge of Seventeen

Jane Benyo is also the inspiration for Stevie Nicks’ 1982 single Edge of Seventeen. During her marriage to Tom Petty, Benyo had met Nicks and told him that she had met Petty when she was “seventeen”. However, Queen of Rock and Roll confused it with the title “edge of seventeen” and adopted the phrase as their song title.

5.divorce

Despite the beginning of his fairy tale, the marriage of Tom Petty and his first wife, Jane Benyo, ended after 22 years. The divorce between the two was finalized on September 9, 1996.

6. Jane Benyo’s battle with depression

The end of their marriage has been attributed to the late rock legend devoting too much of his time to his music career. As a result, Benyo found herself in a sea of ​​loneliness and depression. In his 2015 biography Petty: The Biography, the late rock legend describes his ex-wife as mentally ill. In defense of her mother, their daughter Adria Petty admits that her mother deeply loved her father, but became verbally abusive towards him due to her own insecurities.

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