John Anthony Gillis was born in Detroit, Michigan, the youngest of ten children--and the seventh son--of Teresa (nee Bandyk) and Gorman M. Gillis. His mother's family was Polish, while his father was Scottish-Canadian. He was raised a Catholic, and his father and mother both worked for the Archdiocese of Detroit as the Building Maintenance Superintendent and secretary in the Cardinal's office, respectively. Gillis became an altar boy, which landed him an uncredited role in the 1987 movie The Rosary Murders, filmed mainly at Holy Redeemer parish in southwest Detroit.

On December 13, 2003, White was involved in an altercation with Jason Stollsteimer, lead singer of the Von Bondies, at the Magic Stick, a Detroit club. White was charged with misdemeanor aggravated assault. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault and battery, was fined $750 (including court costs), and was sentenced to take anger management classes.  White has repeatedly referenced conflicts that erupted between him and fellow artists in Detroit's underground music scene after The White Stripes gained international success. In a 2006 interview with the Associated Press, he said that he eventually left Detroit because, "he could not take the negativity anymore." However, in an effort to clarify his feelings towards the city of Detroit itself, he wrote and released a poem called "Courageous Dream's Concern." In it, he expresses his affection for his hometown.  During their 2013 divorce proceedings, Elson entered into evidence an e-mail White had sent her that included disparaging remarks about The Black Keys. When asked about the email in a 2014 Rolling Stone magazine interview, White stood by the remarks saying, "I'll hear TV commercials where the music's ripping off sounds of mine, to the point I think it's me. Half the time, it's the Black Keys." He later apologized for the comments. However, in September 2015, Patrick Carney of the band posted a series of tweets alleging that White tried to fight him in a bar. White denied the claim in a statement to the online magazine Pitchfork, saying that Carney should talk to him directly, and not on the internet. The following day, Carney posted a tweet saying, "Talked to jack for an hour he's cool. All good." White tweeted on the Third Man Twitter account, "From one musician to another, you have my respect Patrick Carney."  On February 1, 2015, the University of Oklahoma's newspaper OU Daily ran a story regarding White's February 2 show at McCasland Field House that included the publication of White's tour rider. The rider, especially the guacamole recipe it included and White's ban of bananas backstage, received significant media coverage. It was later reported that in response to the rider's publication White's booking agency, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, had banned its acts from playing shows at the University of Oklahoma. On February 15 White released an open letter addressed to "journalists and other people looking for drama or a diva" in which he referred to the guacamole recipe as his tour manager's "inside joke with local promoters" and "just something to break up the boredom" while criticizing journalists who wrote about the rider as "out of their element." In the same letter he forgave OU Daily for publishing the story and reaffirmed his desire to perform in Oklahoma.  In October 2016--upon learning that Donald Trump had used the White Stripes' song "Seven Nation Army" in video campaign materials--White denounced the presidential candidate, and began selling shirts reading "Icky Trump" through the Third Man Records website.

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