The Story of the Dirnts
Mike has an amazing family that has supported him thoughout his entire carrer. All the way from his tough childhood up to now, where he has his own children, read on to discover all about The Dirnts.
Michael Ryan Pritchard, also known as Mike Dirnt, was born in California on May 4th, 1972. From then on his childhood was difficult, not helped by the fact that his birth mother was a heroin-addict. Soon he was given up for adoption and went to live with a white man, his Native American wife, and his step-sister Myla. Not long after he turned seven his adoptive parents divorced, throwing his life into further turmoil. Split between the two, he lived with his father for a time before returning to his mother. Things didn't get any better as his mother (who later re-married) was living on the borderline of poverty. She was also going through a tough time in her life and had many unsuccessful relationships.
Mike later commented on this; "When I was in fourth or fifth grade, my mom stayed out all night, came home the next day with a guy, and then he moved in. I'd never met the guy, and suddenly he's my step dad.”
However, it was not all doom and gloom for Mike. He was independent from an early age, working at Rod's Hickory Pit where Billie Joe's mother was a waitress. The appearance of Billie Joe in his life was one of the few positives of his childhood. They met each other in the school canteen at the age of 10 in 1982, a few months before Armstrong's father died. Mike frequently went to Billie Joe's house where they would play guitar together. Mike and Billie Joe practiced playing cover versions of songs on the guitar, and Mike later decided to switch to playing bass.
The next big event in Mike's life was Myla later leaving home when she was only thirteen and Mike soon followed her, flying the nest at fifteen to live out of his truck. He then received a room in Billie's house and later he lived in a punk squatter building. This may have been due to his mother's refusal to sign some mandatory attendance forms. He missed some school time because of his job, and his mother did not excuse him. Mike recalls in the incident as;
"I took my mom aside and I said to her, 'This is how it is. You have so much shit going on in your life, so if once every semester you ask me if I've done my homework and jump all over my case, that's not right. Have I failed yet? No. And I'm going to graduate if you stay off my back. The one time in your life you choose to have morals, and it's going to fuck me up. Don't play mom once a year. It doesn't fucking cut it.'"
This later resulted in him loosing a full grade point, and at the end of his final year, he had low results instead of the grades he'd worked to achieve. He ended up graduating from Pinole Valley High in 1990 (he went to Salesian High School as a freshman), unlike his close friend Billie Joe who dropped out. After his mother moved away, Mike established a strong relationship with his step-father. Sadly he passed away when Mike was 17, but not before instilling many of Mike's strong blue-collar morals.
Because of this difficult upbringing, Mike has a strong appreciation for family values and Mike married his girlfriend Anastasia in August of 1996. They now have a daughter named Estelle-Desiree born in April 1997. Mike visits their daughter, who he has nicknamed "Hero", as much as he can. The pressures of being in Green Day have become too much for Mike and Anastasia's marriage to withstand and they got divorced. Unfortunately, they couldn't patch the things up but they are still good friends. Mike also re-married in 2004; his second wife was called Sarah. But that too did not last, because he was spending too much time and effort recording American Idiot. Currently, Mike is involved in a steady relationship with Brittney Cade. The two had their first child together on October 11, 2008. He was named Brixton Michael and weighed eight pounds.
