'I'm Sting's secret "adopted" child': TV producer, 37, claims singer and wife Trudie offered to take him in after his mother died when he was 12

By Charlotte Griffiths, Girl About Town Editor For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 19:06 EST, 21 November 2015 | Updated: 21:51 EST, 21 November 2015

Movie maker and TV producer Dankuro Asanuma has revealed that he was once the secret ‘adopted son’ of pop star Sting and his wife Trudie Styler.

Dankuro, now 37, tells me he was 12 years old when the celebrity couple offered to take him in after his mother died and his father moved to the US.

‘They really were like parents to me,’ reveals Dankuro, who has worked on TV series such as Persona and 2014 film 50 Kisses. ‘I have very good memories of my time living with them.’

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Movie maker and TV producer Dankuro Asanuma has revealed that he was once the secret ‘adopted son’ of pop star Sting and his wife Trudie Styler

Movie maker and TV producer Dankuro Asanuma has revealed that he was once the secret ‘adopted son’ of pop star Sting and his wife Trudie Styler

He got to know Sting as a small boy, after his father, Watal, a photographer, took some pictures of the fledgling pop star when he moonlighted as a male model.

After Sting helped to form The Police, Dankuro even went on tour with them, and years later, when his mother died and his father had to go to New York to work, Sting and Trudie offered to take him in as a foster child at their home in Hampstead, North London, where he lived for three years until he was 15.

‘It was great fun, growing up with all of their kids,’ Dankuro, nicknamed Dan Dan by the family, told me at The Last Hope Party at Mayfair’s C London. 

‘They took me in as one of their own. Sting was more reserved in those days, but Trudie was great fun.’ He seldom sees his ‘foster parents’ these days, but remains grateful to them for taking him in and for the great memories.

Dankuro, now 37, tells me he was 12 years old when the celebrity couple (pictured) offered to take him in after his mother died and his father moved to the US

Dankuro, now 37, tells me he was 12 years old when the celebrity couple (pictured) offered to take him in after his mother died and his father moved to the US

‘They’re very busy and I’m really busy with my work here in London, but I still see some of his children,’ Dankuro said.

But he is unlikely to get a share of Sting’s fabled £180 million fortune. The star – who has four children with Trudie and a further two by his first wife, actress Frances Tomelty – has said he regards big inheritances as ‘albatrosses’ that his children could well do without.

And for good measure, Sting added: ‘There won’t be much money left because we’re spending it.’

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