Jack White Says Meg Was ‘Uninterested In White Stripes’

Jack White says that Meg White was “uninterested” in The White Stripes.

Despite a close musical partnership, an apparent friendship (even following divorce), and both critical and commercial success, Jack White says that his former White Stripes collaborator Meg White was difficult to work. Though the pair found acclaim in the early 2000s, quickly becoming one of the most popular bands of the decade, Jack says that Meg never shared his enthusiasm for the project.

“In The White Stripes, it was impossible to share the good moments with Meg because she was very uninterested. If something nice happened, it wasn’t like we would hug or have a drink. That wasn’t what went on,” The Blunderbuss singer told Esquire.

“We would record a White Stripes song in the studio and it would be me, Meg and an engineer. 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.”

“So 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.”

Still, Jack did say that there were a lot of good moments between the two, and you get the sense that he regards his partnership with Meg as bittersweet.

“It’s strange to know that there’s beautiful moments that no one will ever know about,” he said. “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.”