Chrisann Brennan

Chrisann Brennan (born September 29, 1954) is an American memoirist and painter.

She is the author of The Bite in the Apple, an autobiography about her relationship with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

They had one child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs.

Brennan was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1954, one of four daughters of James Richard Brennan and Virginia Lavern Rickey.

Chrisann was named after the flower chrysanthemum.

Her father worked for Sylvania and the family lived in a number of places including Colorado Springs and Nebraska.

They eventually settled in Sunnyvale, California.

Her parents divorced after their move to Buffalo, New York.

Brennan attended Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, where she met Steve Jobs during the early months of 1972.

Brennan and Jobs's relationship began in 1972 while they were students in high school together.

Brennan remained involved with Jobs while he was at Reed College.

In mid-1973, Jobs moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area.

They remained involved with each other while continuing to see other people.

After Brennan graduated from high school, she went to visit Jobs at the All One Farm, a commune in Oregon.

Brennan was deeply influenced by the experience of meeting and working with the people that she met there.

In early 1975, Brennan became involved with a Zen Buddhist community in Los Altos.

It was through this community she would meet and work with the Zen master Kobun.

Brennan was also deeply involved in her art program at Foothill College, where she studied under Gordon Holler.

At this time, she fell in love with Greg Calhoun (Jobs' former Reed classmate) who had come to visit from the All One Farm.

Brennan moved to the All One Farm and lived with Calhoun.

They eventually moved back to the Bay Area, then traveled for a year through India, though their relationship ended by the time she returned to the United States.

After her return from India, Brennan visited Jobs, whom she now considered just a friend, at his parents' home, where he was still living.

It was during this period that Jobs and Brennan fell in love again, as Brennan noted changes in him that she attributes to Kōbun Chino Otogawa, whom she was also still following.

It was also at this time that Jobs displayed a prototype Apple computer for Brennan and his parents in their living room.

Brennan notes a shift in this time period, where the two main influences on Jobs were Apple and Kobun.

By the early 1977, she and Jobs would spend time together at her home at Duveneck Ranch in Los Altos, which served as a hostel and environmental education center.

Brennan also worked there as a teacher for inner-city children who came to learn about the farm.

As Jobs and Apple became more successful, his relationship with Brennan grew more complex.

In 1977 Brennan, Daniel Kottke, and Jobs moved into a house near the Apple office in Cupertino.

Brennan notes that Jobs wanted the three of them to live together because, "Steve told me that he didn't want to get a house with just the two of us because it felt insufficient to him. Steve wanted his buddy Daniel to live with him because he believed it would break up the intensity of what wasn't working between us. Our relationship was running hot and cold. We were completely crazy about each other and utterly bored in turns. I had suggested to Steve that we separate, but he told me that he just couldn't bring himself to say good-bye."

In addition, Jobs initially suggested that all three of them each have separate rooms.

They were still involved with each other, but even then Brennan states that in her memory of the time, "I recalled how awful he was becoming and how I was starting to flounder".

When she moved into the house, she had initially planned to commit to becoming an artist.

However, she also needed to find work and eventually took a position at Apple in the Shipping Department (where she was part of a team that tested, assembled, and shipped Apple IIs with Mark Johnson and Bob Martinengo whom she enjoyed working with).

She also took art classes at nearby De Anza College.

Brennan's relationship with Jobs was deteriorating as his position with Apple grew and she began to consider ending the relationship.

In October 1977, Brennan was approached by Apple employee #5, Rod Holt, who asked her to take "a paid apprenticeship designing blueprints for the Apples".

Both Holt and Jobs felt that it would be a good position for her, given her artistic abilities.

Brennan's decision, however, was overshadowed by the fact that she realized she was pregnant and that Jobs was the father.

It took her a few days to tell Jobs, whose face, according to Brennan "turned ugly" at the news.