Mike Dirnt (actually, Michael Ryan Pritchard) was born in California on May 4th, 1972., to a heroin-addicted mother. When Dirnt was seven, his adoptive parents divorced (since then, they have gotten back together), and Dirnt bounced between the two until finally settling in with his adoptive mom and older sister. That, too, was short lived, and soon Dirnt struck out on his own, working, among a handful of jobs, at Rod's Hickory Pit where future bandmate Billie Joe Armstrong's mom was a waitress. He had a difficult childhood but let's say it this way, Billie Joe brightened up his life. .