U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. has sung his family’s praises through the years.
“I’m absolutely rubbish at being a rock star,” Mullen Jr. said in 2013, per the Irish Daily Mail. “I’m one of the worst rock stars I know. I love being at home with my kids. There are no drugs. There’s not even a whole lot of rock ‘n’ roll going on.”
Mullen Jr. cofounded U2 with Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton when they were at school in Dublin. In December 2024, Mullen Jr. revealed his battle with dyscalculia, which makes it difficult for him to count bars of music.
“I’ve always known that there’s something not particularly right with the way that I deal with numbers. I’m numerically challenged,” Mullen told the Sunday Times Radio. “I realized recently that I have dyscalculia, which is a sub-version of dyslexia. So I can’t count, I can’t add.”
Mullen Jr. — who shares three kids with partner Ann Acheson — plans to address his journey with dyscalculia in the upcoming Left Behind documentary.
“I brought the documentary to my son, who is dyslexic, and he watched the film with me,” Mullen told Deadline. “I could see how he was reacting to it, and I just came up with an idea of his intensity and how he was feeling. I just literally took the idea, went into the studio and recorded what I thought he felt like now.”
Mullen Jr. did not share which son struggles with the learning disability. “Oh, he laughs at me and says, ‘Oh, you think that you understand how I feel,’” he recalled. “And I say, ‘Well, I’m imagining what it feels like.’ I was inspired by him, and that’s where the idea grew from with the music.”
Scroll down to meet Mullen Jr.’s family:
Ann Acheson
Mullen Jr. and Acheson both attended Dublin’s Mount Temple Comprehensive School, per the Irish Daily Mail.
Aaron Elvis Mullen
Aaron is Mullen Jr. and Acheson’s eldest son. He was born in 1995.
U2’s Larry Mullen Jr. Says Dyscalculia Explains Why He Looks ‘Pained’
Ava Mullen
Mullen Jr. and Acheson’s daughter, Ava, arrived in 1998.
Ezra Mullen
The drummer and Acheson welcomed their youngest child, son Ezra, in 2001.
