Who Are Billy Idol's Kids?

When one thinks of Billy Idol, a true '80s rock icon with his trademark rakish snarl, spiky platinum blonde hair, and leather outfits, "family man" is perhaps not the first phrase that comes to mind. Born William Michael Albert Broad in Middlesex, England on November 30, 1955, he first started playing the guitar in high school, per his personal website. He became interested in punk rock soon after, making friends with fellow Sex Pistols fan Susan Ballion, who went on to rename herself Siouxsie Sioux and lead the goth band Siouxsie and the Banshees. 

He formed the influential early pop-punk band Generation X in 1976 at which point he became known as Billy Idol. He went solo and moved to the United States in 1981, having acquired some notoriety for the original release of his future pop hit "Dancing With Myself." He released his self-titled debut full-length album in 1982.

Billy Idol made an enormous splash in the early '80s with two hit singles, "White Wedding" and "Hot In The City" followed by 1984's "Rebel Yell" and "Eyes Without A Face." Per Closer Weekly, in 1980, Idol met and started a long-term relationship with fellow rocker Perri Lister. The website Lethal Amounts referred to Lister as "the doyenne of the New Romantics." 

Lister was a member of the British dance troupe Hot Topics and appeared in a variety of television shows and movies, including the 1980 Village People movie "Can't Stop The Music." She went on to be one of the influential Blitz Kids, a group of artists in early 1980s London that also included future Culture Club lead singer and fashion icon Boy George. Lister joined the band Visage and was one of the leaders of the flamboyant and glamorous New Romantic movement that embraced baroque fashion, art, and New Wave and synth-pop music. 

Perri Lister and Billy Idol started a relationship and she appeared in his video for the song "White Wedding," which received massive airplay on the new and wildly popular cable music television channel MTV. Per Lethal Amounts, Lister appeared in a white wedding dress in the video, pirouetting and whirling around in a dimly lit Gothic castle as well as in a tight-fitting pair of leather pants, shaking her hips in a line with other dancers. 

Lister also sang backing vocals on the Billy Idol hit "Eyes Without A Face" and she appeared in multiple photographs with him, becoming better known as Billy Idol's girlfriend and even groupie than as a collaborator. Their relationship was fraught; in 1987, Idol was arrested for drug possession alongside another woman and Lister actually gave a press conference (per YouTube) at which she assured the press that she was Billy Idol's girlfriend and had been for seven years. A year later, their son Willem Wolf Broad was born. 

Billy Idol's son Willem Wolf Broad, also known as Willem Wolfe, has followed in his father's footsteps and gone on to sing in bands and DJ. According to Rock NYC, he was in the band FIM with his childhood friend Brandon Rauch; the video for the song "Almost Dead,"(via YouTube), features a gothic wedding vibe, bringing to mind the famous "White Wedding" video made by his parents nearly 40 years earlier. In a 2010 interview with the New York Daily News, Idol spoke of the influence his son had on his own listening habits, noting "For example, I'm very interested in what my son is doing. He's more into bands like Radiohead than my music. That doesn't change the feeling I have for my music."

Broad and Wolfe have gone on to form an indie-pop duo called JUGGS, but per Rock NYC the band doesn't seem to fit into any particular genre of music as they incorporate electronics with guitar, bass, keys, and vocals to create songs that range from post-punk to danceable to chill beachy jams. Writer Alyson Camus at Rock NYC wrote in 2021, "It's always unusual to see the son of a rockstar doing his own thing and being totally humble and unassuming."

That same year, Wolfe posted a photo to his Instagram account in which he wore a leather jacket with no shirt, ripped black pants, and blonde spiky hair. The look was very reminiscent of his famous father. 

Per Rocks Off, Billy Idol and Perri Lister broke up in 1989 after rumors spread that Idol was expecting a child with another woman, Linda Mathis. In a 2016 interview with Louder Sound, when asked if he had felt guilty for cheating on his longtime partner, Idol explained "You're out in the middle of nowhere, and in those days there were no computers or cable television, particularly, so one had to entertain oneself. And, of course, one usually used whatever there was in the audience for that. I loved Perri but I couldn't help but have dalliances." 

Idol began dating 20-year-old Mathis and their daughter, Bonnie Blue Broad, was born in 1989. Idol and Mathis broke up less than a year after Bonnie's birth, and Idol was soon in a terrible motorcycle accident that nearly killed him. Idol called the crash a "watershed moment," per Forbes. 

In a 2010 interview with the New York Daily News, Idol said of his daughter Bonnie Blue Broad "My daughter doesn't exhibit any interest in the business. She has entered college this year to study writing. She is actually very good. Can you imagine Billy Idol having a daughter at university?"

Just over a decade later, Broad has made yet another unlikely Billy Idol situation very real when she gave birth to her daughter and Idol's granddaughter, Poppy Rebel. Idol told People in 2021 that Poppy, then just 1, had just been bouncing up and down to his hit song (and Poppy's possible namesake, considering her middle name), "Rebel Yell" in addition to more usual baby tunes like "Baby Shark." In December that year, Idol posted on Instagram that another granddaughter had been born, saying, "Welcome to the world, MaryJane ... we love you so much!" MaryJane is Poppy's sister. 

Idol gushed to People about life as a grandpa, saying it had changed him in ways he couldn't have predicted: "It opens you up emotionally," he said. Everything is a new experience for her. In a way, I'm reliving those experiences myself." 

Idol makes plenty of appearances on his daughter Bonnie's Instagram account, including a very funny picture of Idol from November 30, 202. In the photo he's wearing a colorful Christmas sweater and making his trademark pose, all snarls and raised fist, captioned "Happy birthday to this hilarious man."