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FULL
NAME : Michael Ryan Pritchard (Dirnt)
AGE/BIRTHDATE
: 35; born May 4, 1972
HOMETOWN
: Berkeley, California, USA
EYE
COLOR : Blue
NATURAL
HAIR COLOR : Brown
HEIGHT
: 5'10
MARITAL
STATUS : Mike recently got married in 2004, but is now divorced
after his wife left him because "he was spending too much time in the
studio." Mike has a new girlfriend.
CHILDREN
: Estelle Desiree (Stella); born April 1997, to ex-wife, Anastasia
FAMILY
: Mike was adopted. His adoptive parents divorced when he was 7, and
both are now remarried. I know Mike has at least one step sister, named
Myla, but I don't know of anymore.
RESTAURANT
:
Rudy's Can't Fail Caf�,
in Emeryville, CA.
WHEELS
: A BMW.
INSTRUMENTS
: Bass, farfisa, guitar, drums, and a baseball bat.
OTHER
BANDS : Mike still plays with The Frustrators. He has also played
with Screeching Weasel, Crummy Musicians, and Squirtgun.

Michael Ryan Pritchard, now known as Mike Dirnt, was born on May 4,
1972. Mike's mother was a heroin addict. He was given up for adoption
when he was a baby, to a Native american mother and a white father. When
he was 7, his adoptive parents got a divorce. Mike lived with his father
for awhile, but confrontations sent him back to his mother. He lived
there on the borderline of proverty, while his sister left home at the
age of 13. "There were all sorts of things happening," says Mike. "When
I was in fourth or fifth grade, my mom stayed out all night, came home
the next day with a guy, and he moved in. I'd never met the guy before,
and all of a sudden he's my stepdad. We didn't get along for years.
Later on, when I hit high school, my mom moved away from us, and me and
my stepdad got real close. He instilled a lot in me. The one thing my
family did give me is blue-collar morals. But then he died when I was
17."
By that point, Mike had already moved out, leaving home when he was
15 to live out of his truck. He then rented a room in Billie's house,
and later he lived in a punk squatter building. Billie and Mike began
living for their weekends at the Gilman Street Project. Mike still
continued to go to school, play in Sweet Children (which later became
Green Day of course), and live on his own. He supported himself by
working as a cook. Mike almost didn't graduate from high school, because
his mother refused to sign one of his mandatory-attendance forms. "I
took my mom aside," Mike says. "I said, '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 chose to have morals, and it's going to fuck
me up. Don't play mom once a year. It doens't fucking cut it.'" In the
end, Mike did graduate from high school, and he even took more than a
year's worth of courses at a community college. Then Billie and Mike
moved into a squat in Oakland, California (the inspiration for "Welcome
to Paradise").
Mike married his long time girlfriend Anastasia in 1996 and their
daughter, Estella-Desiree was born in April 1997. Mike loves his
daughter very much, and his nickname for her is "Hero". Today, Mike and
Anastasia are separated, but still remain very good friends. He recently
was remarried in 2004, however his wife left him because he spending too
much time in the studio recording American Idiot. Mike is currently
dating, and he resides in Oakland, California.
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