In 2001, a strange article was published boldly questioning whether quickly rising rock duo, The White Stripes, were telling us some white lies.
A rumour had emerged that these rarely interviewed siblings — famed for their matching red and white striped outfits — were secretly not related at all.
Instead, wild claims were being thrown around that the pair had not only been romantically involved but were already married and divorced.
Of course, frontman Jack White put these rumours to bed, telling NME at the time: ‘We’re brother and sister. Someone started a rumour about how we used to be married and we played along with it.
‘That was a bad idea, we get asked this all the time now.’
An innocent joke that spiralled into an uncomfortably persistent rumour, then? Only, it was all true — he and Meg White were once married, now divorced and lying about it.
Jack, 49, repeatedly lied through his teeth in interviews about their relationship, as the easily provable truth continued to crop up throughout their career.
He would even introduce her as his ‘big sister’ — although Sinead Stubbins for The Cut noted her own ‘slightly confused’ feeling from their ‘intense, somewhat smouldering eye contact’ on stage.
As the band’s fame continued to grow, cemented with 2003’s Seven Nation Army and six Grammy wins, so did the speculation.
On March 30, 2001, the Detroit Free Press firmly blew their cover but Jack — who was far chattier than Meg, 50, despite always insisting on interviewing together — continued to dodge questions about the lie.
The White Stripes would go on to headline Glastonbury in 2005 before dramatically vanishing from performing just two years later, splitting officially in 2011.
Behind the scenes, the tale of Jack and Meg White is infinitely more bizarre than their unassuming on-stage personas would suggest. So who are The White Stripes really? And where did they go?
How did the White Stripes really meet?
While in high school, Meg White worked part-time at the Memphis Smoke, a restaurant where Jack Gillis performed poetry on open mic nights.
The pair struck up a friendship, visiting record stores and music venues, dating for several years before tying the knot on September 21, 1996, with Jack, unusually for the time, taking his wife’s last name.
He had been drumming since he was five years old, and despite a brief passion to join the priesthood, landed his first professional gig in 1994 for Goober & the Peas.
When Meg began to play, too, The White Stripes became a clear vision for the pair. Jack played guitar while his wife drummed; both were vocalists.
Their name came from her love of peppermints, blending the sweet’s appearance with their last name.
When their ruse was uncovered, Jack told the Detroit paper: ‘Frankly, we’re kind of tired with all the attention on the brother-sister thing. The White Stripes are about the music, and we don’t want that to be lost.’
In 2002, Spin Magazine’s Chuck Klosterman dug into the lies, asking why they were still claiming to be siblings after the marriage certificate was published.
‘We’ve given up,’ Jack doubled down. ‘People can say whatever they want at this point. It never mattered to us. We were never trying to create this.’
He claimed if they had ‘wanted to fool people’, they would have come up with ‘a story a lot crazier than this’.
When did Jack and Meg White get divorced?
The White Stripes officially debuted in 1997, but it was not until 2001 that they hit the mainstream with their third album, White Blood Cells.
The single Fell in Love with a Girl broke through into the charts, bringing the duo to the forefront of the 00s garage rock revival.
This success was followed up by the now iconic Seven Nation Army two years later, as well as single The Hardest Button to Button, which landed in the charts.
However, before their best music was even written, Jack and Meg were already divorced.
The couple had been on the rocks, divorcing secretly in 2000 with the guitarist asking other musicians to join him for their final shows in anticipation of The White Stripes ending.
In an interview with Esquire, Jack portrayed his ex-wife (not sibling) as ‘very uninterested’ in pursuing the band.
‘So we would finish a mix of a song, and I’d say, “Wow! That’s pretty good!” I’d look around, and Meg would just be sitting there, and the engineer would just be sitting there,’ Jack shared.
‘It’d be sorta like, “OK… Let’s just move on to the next one.” It was just me by myself. But it was the best thing for me. It taught me a lot about trusting my gut.’
Shockingly, Meg turned up to the first show and asked to continue, despite long speculation that the group was Jack’s brainchild.
They continued to do interviews together and lean into the sibling claims —or at least offer vague responses — for the rest of the White Stripes’ career.
Why did The White Stripes lie?
Their sibling lie gave way to numerous others; they were the youngest of 10 siblings, starting the band on Bastille Day of 1997 after Meg found a drum kit in the attic.
One bizarre rumour was that Jack lived in an entirely red house, never dispelled and never as hotly discussed as his relationship with Meg.
‘It’s funny that people think me and Meg sit up late at night, in front of a gas lamp, and come up with these intricate lies to trick people,’ Jack said in a Rolling Stones profile in 2005.
Addressing their reasoning for the sibling lie, he added: ‘I want you to imagine if we had presented ourselves in another fashion, that people might have thought was the truth. How would we have been perceived, right off the bat?
‘When you see a band that is two pieces, husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, you think. “Oh, I see…” When they’re brother and sister, you go, “Oh, that’s interesting.”
‘You care more about the music, not the relationship — whether they’re trying to save their relationship by being in a band.’
Fans have suggested the move was to protect Meg, preventing her from being dismissed as simply the frontman’s ex and letting her talent shine.
Jack repeatedly asked for attention to be on the music rather than their behind-the-scenes life, while Meg’s shyness prevented too much probing on her thoughts.
What happened to The White Stripes?
‘It will always be us two,’ he said of the pair’s relationship with Rolling Stone. ‘I will never do the White Stripes with another drummer. She’ll never do it with another guitarist.’
By 2007, Meg had run out of steam for the spotlight and they cancelled all remaining dates on their US tour, reportedly due to Meg’s acute anxiety and wanting to focus on her mental health.
After this she stayed silent — not totally unusual for the drummer — but Jack continued to tease new music and a tour all the way until 2011, when they finally disbanded.
The statement said this was ‘not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health.’
‘It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way,’ they concluded.
While Meg vanished from the public eye, Jack continued to have a successful music career as a solo artist.
In 2008, he had already begun to carve out a solo career, featuring with Alicia Keys on the Quantum of Solace Bond song Another Way To Die.
He’s continued to work prolifically over the years with various other artists, most recently dropping a surprise album in 2024 to critical acclaim, which was followed by a tour.
Where is Meg White now?
Despite her efforts to stay away from the spotlight, Meg came back into focus in 2023 after a now-deleted tweet slammed her drumming skills, sparking a new wave of support for the reclusive musician.
A friend conveyed to Elle at the time: ‘Meg really doesn’t think she feels up for any interviews. She never liked them.’
Another good friend shared that she’s spent so long saying no to interviews that she can’t really start saying yes now.
‘She spent 15 years traveling and touring and playing. It’s not that odd to think that she just likes to be home,’ a third insider added to the publication months later.
Jack has always praised Meg but all hopes of the White Stripes reuniting has been abandoned by fans and seemingly, the guitarist too.
On her 50th birthday, he posted a message to his ‘big sister’, ‘the great Meg White’ in one of the few public acknowledgments of his former partner.
‘There’s only one of you Meggo, they broke the mold,’ he wrote. ‘You’re still inspiring people, including me. Love you so much.’
In the 2012 interview with Esquire, Jack shared: ‘It’s strange to know that there’s beautiful moments that no one will ever know about.
‘It’s whether I’m going to tell you, because Meg’s never going to tell you. There’s a sadness to that, a romance.’
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