EXCLUSIVE: Growing Up Muppet! Jim Henson's Son Reveals What It Was Really Like Being Raised by 'Workaholic' Puppet Master
Jim Henson's son shared what life was really like growing up with the famed puppet master.
June 19 2026, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
"My dad was a workaholic," Jim Henson's son Brian [Henson] told RadarOnline.com, without a hint of bitterness. "I have four siblings, and for us to see our father, we would spend a lot of time hanging out in his studios and his workshop."
The Sesame Street and Muppet Show mastermind wasn't neglecting his children; he was providing them with a powerful role model.
"He always had so many ideas he felt like he needed to do," recalled Brian, 62. "My dad would always say, 'If something is not inspiring, then do something that is.' He was an inspiration to everyone."
Creating His Own Characters
Brian Henson said he and brother, John, unknowingly ruined valuable Muppets in the sandbox while growing up around Jim Henson's workshop.
That includes Brian, who eventually took up his father's mantle as the chairman of the Jim Henson Company in Hollywood. It was a childhood dream come true for Brian, who grew up playing with his dad's Muppets.
"The value of some of the puppets my brother, John, and I ruined in the sandbox when we were 4 or 5 years old is horrifying when I think back on it," said Brian, the firstborn son of Jim and his wife, Jane, who wed in 1959.
Soon, Brian was creating his own characters.
"I made the first Muppet penguin," he said proudly. "All of the kids in my family would make Muppets for fun. Some were terrible, and some my dad would go, 'Oh, we'll use this one.' When [Miss Piggy puppeteer] Frank Oz used my penguin in one of The Muppet Show's musical numbers, I was so happy."
Tragically, Jim died suddenly of toxic shock syndrome and pneumonia at 53 in 1990, when Brian was only 26. Still, "I had the unique comfort that the whole world knew him and was sad with me," Brian remembered. "When my mother died [in 2013 at 78 from cancer], it was much harder."
Father's Legacy Guided Brian
Frank Oz used one of Brian's homemade penguin Muppets in a musical number on 'The Muppet Show.'
Assuming control of his dad's company at a young age, Brian found "for a few years, my life was stressful, it was tricky," he said. "But I thought it was important, and I really wanted it to work."
Brian could always look to Jim's example to guide him.
"He inspired people to realize their weird and wonderful ideas," Brian said. "He came up with an original idea and presented it to the world, who embraced it because it's sweet and positive."
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Brian said Jim Henson inspired people to embrace 'weird and wonderful ideas' before the creator's death in 1990.
While he died far too young, Jim achieved his life's goal: "My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there."
Concluded Brian: "That's what he was doing every minute he was alive. And he had fun doing it."
As Jim's alter ego Kermit the Frog said: "That's the kind of dream that gets better the more people you share it with."
