He married his long-time girlfriend Sandra Dawn Conklin (a.k.a. That’s funny, I’ve never actually seen that parallel. Don’t do what someone else does. Hunter emphasized that everyone should do their own thing. Not so much that—he was just so volatile, and I think he became more so the older he got. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. “I think he would have been proud that I tried to be honest and didn’t cover up a lot of the unsavory stuff,” he said. After a while, he really couldn’t take care of himself. But, of course, Hunter wasn’t just a symbol of Gonzo journalism, and he wasn’t just a caricature of the ‘60s. A fine circular bar stood in the center, flanked by furniture draped in black cloth, ... Juan Thompson called for testimonials from his father’s family and friends. Were you sorting through his archives and his letters? 23-Mar-1964) Wife: Anita Thompson (Thompson's personal assistant, b. The hard part was pulling all these scraps together into a single, unified and compelling story with an actual arc. And I don’t know if I used these exact words in the book, but for those people close to Hunter, there was a very strong sense of loyalty. So, yes, he was relieved I didn’t end up like him, but he was also probably thrilled that I didn’t feel compelled to follow in his footsteps. Nine years is a long time. “I wanted to show people that there was a lot more to Hunter than caricature. You kept returning to it, even after brief spurts of absence (boarding school, Tufts, and a semester abroad in England). “I noticed a few months ago, that I didn’t feel that same need to have this possession or that possession—that the absence didn’t mean I was not connected to him. Hunter didn’t pay her for most of the work she did in the 20-plus years she took care of him. I got a rough draft done in about a year, but then I realized that was the easy part, getting words down on paper—the basic skeleton. And I do not doubt for a second he wasn’t conscious of that. That you didn’t know where he stood on certain issues? All while still managing to write at a professional level. You have a pretty normal life. They brought you together. I don’t think as a 2-year-old I decided that I’d call him Hunter, instead of Dad. Were they both particularly seduced by youth? The best result we found for your search is Charles David Thompson Jr. age 50s in Springboro, OH. Like him, you seem to have a deep connection to the place, to that house in Woody Creek, Colorado. We just didn’t belong in there. I still look back, and…. Ad Choices. He will always be Hunter S. Thompson’s son. Did Hunter need Deb? He was in his early 60s, and he was dating women in their early 20s. It’s not entirely rare, I suppose. He trusted her because he knew she had no ulterior motives. Hunter was a foreign correspondent in South America for a couple of years during the early ‘60s, and then when it came time to pick a name—you know, it’s funny, his mother was very traditional, and pretty much everybody in the Thompson family has a name that comes off the family tree in some way. Yeah. Associated With. It’s a portrait of Hunter as a human being, funny and fearful pages filled with drunk, smoky evenings, famous friends and admirers, extensive travels and financial uncertainty. Among swimming and watching movies, one ritual between you and Hunter was cleaning and shooting guns. But it was certainly not easy. Was being normal, for lack of a better word, a way to rebel? You didn’t expect to be there when he did it, you’re saying? There’s Howard Austen and Gore Vidal, after all. You have to protect Hunter. In the decade following his father’s death, Juan has also accepted that, at times, he is his father’s emissary. Or even Jimmy Buffett’s wedding, a celebration you would later learn was filled with all sorts of drugs. But I see something perhaps deeper in your relationship to the place, to the land specifically. It was a very strange thing. Esquire spoke with Juan F. Thompson about what Hunter S. Thompson taught him about being a man, being a father, and how even the most untouchable of characters eventually become mortal. It's on the house. Juan Thompson, son of 'gonzo' journalist Hunter S. Thompson, found his father dead on February 20, 2005. Owl Farm was where I grew up—it’s where I have my earliest memories. I just wrote an essay for Powell’s Books, for the store’s newsletter, and the essay is about why it took me nine years to write this book. He picked Juan. "Stories I Tell Myself" opens with a confession that you constructed the memoir based on memories, which are oftentimes unreliable. What do you think his response would have been if he were alive? Stories I tell myself : growing up with Hunter S. Thompson by Juan F Thompson ( Book ) The American 1960's ; imaginative acts in a decade of change by ... F. Scott Fitzgerald. I mean, how do you stop someone? He was a fierce vocal opponent of Richard Nixon, and used to wear a Halloween mask of his likeness. Sandy Conklin Thompson, now Sondi Wright) on May 19, 1963. But that doesn’t mean—he did do a lot of rotten things. But it was also so much more than a house, because it was so important to Hunter. (laughs) Yeah, my God, my God. That wouldn’t have happened. I’m thinking about when Hunter brought you and your mother, Sandy, to hang out with Ken Kesey and the Hell’s Angels. But boy, I didn’t expect his suicide when it happened. You even go so far as to claim that Hunter would have been disappointed—you mention hearing that Hunter said at a lecture that he would “beat the shit out of” you if he knew you had taken LSD, even though he’d offer you drugs as an adult. He had a son named Juan Fitzgerald Thompson. And I think just by my nature, I’m not like him. He never wanted to do a biography, he said. It covers his college days at Princeton where he wrote rather than doing coursework and ended up as a dropout. Yes, though. Without recognizing it, we probably seized on the opportunity: here’s something that we can do together, that can help connect us. I believe a lot of people would be interested to know that you took acid with your mother (not Hunter, and never with Hunter), when you were 14. He hated any loss of control. And then something changed. FitzGerald, Shannon Planner II (Land Use for Building Permits) 360-370-7586 Thompson, Julie Planner III: 360-370-7588 Zack, Adam Planner III: 360-370-7580 Maycock, Colin Planner IV: 360-370-7573 Bagby, Yancey Planner I: 360-370-7581 Cassam, Sophia Planner I: 360-370-7589 Is this what made him so unpredictable? Did you feel a particular connection with your property? very important update in the news this morning. I knew at some point he was going to kill himself. Never self-indulgent, Juan Thompson doesn’t sugar coat his father’s abusive rants and alcoholic deterioration. It’ll occur at some point—at some point down the road, we’ll get the phone call that he had done it. How was Deb able to stay—and deal—with Hunter for so long? It would have been pretty one-dimensional. As long as I can remember, I always called them that. Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy. “It looks very normal,” he said, of his life. By unpacking the stories of his life, in many ways, Juan Thompson has relieved himself of the burden he inherited at birth—the confusion that accompanies growing up with an addict or a celebrity, and the realization that this is not normal. Was it challenging understanding your father as a man and not just a persona, or a symbol? In the Fear Room with Hunter at our house in Washington, D.C. while he was working on Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72. There would have been no way to stop him, then? Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson (Kindle Locations 196-221). Hunter Thompson and Sandra Dawn Thompson were married for almost 18 years. He just really didn’t think how this would affect us long term. Why they made that decision, I have no clue. So I would take long breaks. That it was a sign—like, if I go to Harvard, I’ll be a better person than if I don’t go to Harvard. yours, Paul d’Orleans. It’s a manly kind of thing, and we shared the hobby. Why Boston? She did the basics. By adolescence, Juan had already observed with keen wisdom, “My father was a warrior, not a philosopher.” Juan understood that conflict and provocation informed his father’s vocabulary, and that he would be forever translating that experience in order to understand his own. Texas has filed suit against the insurgent states under a law that takes disputes among the states directly to the supreme court. Until one day it all ended. Hunter is wearing the Medallion from Oscar Acosta and his leather hunting vest. He was married to Anita Thompson from 2003 until his death in 2005. For instance, he owned a '57 Red and White Chevy when Juan was a kid as well as a red Chrysler convertible. And even as an adult, you don’t just get used to that. Did you call your mother “Sandy,” and not "Mom"? He works for a health insurance company as an IT project manager. You got older, and the girlfriends got younger. I started in 2006, and, well, it took nine years. Foremost, though his father was not—despite his place in the popular imagination—a stumbling drunk or strung-out addict, alcohol and drugs would always be part of Thompson’s daily life. With Hunter in the kitchen at Owl Farm circa 1971, when I was 6, clowning around for the photographer. This ebbing introversion was perhaps necessary in the writing of Stories I Tell Myself, his recent memoir about life in the orbit of his father’s ferocity. All rights reserved. Her motivation was to take care of Hunter because she loved him. It was one of those things. My middle name, Fitzgerald—I think was both a tribute to the writer and to the president. Hunter was surprised and pleased that I actually grew up apparently sane—able to hold a job and sustain a relationship. Relying on his memory, on what he considers sometimes “treacherous” and “unfaithful” and “perfidious,” Juan shares the 41 enthralling and scary years he had with Hunter: living in Woody Creek, Colorado, in a house stockpiled with guns, where ammo was stored in the kitchen cabinets; riding, as a young boy, on the back of speeding motorcycles; leaving his family and home state behind for a lonely and isolating East Coast school (twice). It has been lightly edited for concision and clarity. First of all, I’d never written a full-length book, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Juan F. Thompson does have a ring to it. Son: Juan Fitzgerald Thompson (b. That was really important to me at the time,” he said, before taking a long pause. Again, it goes back to his paradoxical nature. There was a point, when he got older and physically worse, he couldn’t do simple stuff, like go grocery shopping. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. And there was space—which was why it was so strange, when I was a kid, and we spent that year in a colonial house in Washington, D.C. Hunter was on the campaign trail. You have to be loyal to him. I wasn’t a total basket case, thankfully. I do—I think it was out of love, yes. The most important thing to know about Deb is that she just loved Hunter. She didn’t want anything from him. Specifically, as a child, you were in situations that most kids never experience. And I’d be doing him a disservice. Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck lobbyist David Cohen, who lobbies for Dominion Voting Systems on issues related to election security and monitors federal legislation for the company, gave McConnell $2,000 on March 31: $1,000 to his campaign committee and $1,000 to his joint fundraising committee. Thompson didn't own the Chevy Red Shark until 1991 when a group of friends bought it for him. He liked the sound of it. It appears he didn’t really encourage your wild side. 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