# Wilderness years

## Marriage

The years of 1991 to 1994 were the worst in Steve’s career. Paradoxically, they were some of the happiest years in his private life. In 1990, at age 35, after his girlfriend Tina Redse had turned down his proposal, he started dating a young Stanford MBA student called Laurene Powell. Laurene was a leggy blonde in the mold of Steve’s taste in women, but she was also very smart and independent — in addition to being a militant vegan. According to Steve, it was love at first

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