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Cheryl Strayed Mother Bobbi Lambrecht and Family Life

Cheryl Strayed mother Bobbi Lambrecht is the inspiration behind her book Wild. Bobbi was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away at 45.

Bobbi was a fierce woman who raised all her kids independently. She has three kids Cheryl, Lief Nyland and Karen Nyland.

Cheryl is an American writer known for her four books:

Torch (2006)

Tiny Beautiful Things (2012)

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (2012)

Brave Enough (2015)

Her 2012 nonfiction book Wild tells the story of a long hike she took in 1995. It became an international bestseller and was adapted as an Academy Award-nominated film in 2014.

Reese Witherspoon plays her character in the 2014 film Wild.

The writer penned her emotions towards her mom in her book. And Readers know her late mom is the book’s soul -as she puts it, “the essential person in my life.”

She began her career by publishing essays in magazines such as The New York Times Magazine, Voge, and The Sun Magazine.

People may also remember the author for hosting two hit podcasts for The York Times. She hosted Dear Sugars with Steve Almond from 2014-2018 and Sugar Calling in 2020.

Table of Contents

Cheryl Strayed Parents

Mother Bobbi Lambrecht

Father Ronald Nyland

Cheryl Strayed Has Two Siblings

Sister Karen Nyland

Brother Lief Nyland

Cheryl Strayed Husband Photo And Family

The True Story Behind Tiny Beautiful Things

Cheryl Strayed Parents

Cheryl Strayed parents are Bobbi Lambrecht and Ronald Nyland. She was born as their second child in Spangler, Pennsylvania, US.

Her parents married at a young age and had a tumultuous marriage. They divorced nearly a decade after their wedding when Strayed was just six. They both remarried.

Mother Bobbi Lambrecht

Bobbi was a keen woman who adored horses and Hank Williams. She was 19 and pregnant during her marriage with Ronald.

The pair had three children -Karen, Cheryl, and Leif.

Lambrecht suffered a series of abuse from her husband and had an off-again-on-again relationship before calling it quits after a decade of marriage.

At 28, she was a single parent of three, taking multiple jobs to sustain her family. However, the loneliness didn’t last for long, as she found her soulmate in Glenn Lambrecht.

Bobbi and Glenn Lambrecht married when the author was 12. Strayed left home for college the following year and joined St. Thomas University.

Her mom also attended the free classes the university offered to their student’s parents. Things took a turn when Bobbi was diagnosed with cancer while she and Strayed were seniors.

Despite her diagnosis, Bobbi was determined to pursue a career in costume design or become a professor of history. Sadly, she passed away at age 45 from lung cancer.

Father Ronald Nyland

Strayed’s father Ronald was a steelworker based in Pennsylvania, United States. He was an abusive man who troubled his wife, Bobbi, for over a decade. Hence their marriage ended on bad terms.

Not only his wife but Ronals abused both of his daughters mentally and physically.

The family had just moved to Minneapolis, but after the separation, Nyland headed back to Pennsylvania. He was hardly in touch with her kids.

He later remarried and had two kids with his second wife. Strayed connected with her half-siblings after Wild was published. Nyland had five kids but was estranged from all of them.

Ronald passed away on June 22, 2021, due to a heart attack. He was alone in his house and passed on before the help arrived.

The author said his demise didn’t feel like a loss to her as she had grieved him years ago.

She is close to her stepfather, Glenn, a hardworking carpenter who loved them like his own. He taught them life lessons and occasionally take them on camping trips.

Cheryl Strayed Has Two Siblings

Cheryl Strayed has two siblings, Karen Nyland and Lief Nyland. She is the middle child with one older sister and one younger brother.

Furthermore, the writer has two half-siblings from her dad’s second marriage. She connected with them after the release of her nonfiction book, Wild.

Like, Strayed, her half-sister, had a cold relationship with their father. The sisters are yet to meet or talk on the phone.

Sister Karen Nyland

Cheryl Strayed sister Karen Nyland is the first daughter and the oldest child of Bobbi and Ronald. She often features on Strayed’s social media posts.

The happy family of five fell apart after her mom’s demise, including her siblings. They dealt with the grief differently, taking different paths in the process.

They were rarely in the speaking term during the process. However, the siblings reconnected and are now on better terms. They often make time to visit one another.

In June 2019, the sisters traveled to the Appalachian town in Pennsylvania where they were born. They visited the graves of their patrilineal ancestors and the houses they once lived.

Brother Lief Nyland

Lief is the youngest and the only brother of Cheryl Strayed. Unlike his famous older sister, he prefers avoiding the spotlight.

The three siblings were inextricably bound together but rarely spoke and saw one another after their parents’ demise.

“They’ve struggled just like I’ve struggled, and sometimes that has led to a sense of distance or concern,” she told The Guardian.

Cheryl went to find her brother, hoping to bring him to the hospital so they could be with their mom in her last moment. Sadly, their mom was gone by the time the two reached the hospital.

They never got to say their goodbyes.

Cheryl Strayed Husband Photo And Family

Cheryl Strayed is happily married to filmmaker Brian Lindstrom. They are married since August 1999 with two children, Bobbi and Carver Strayed Lindstrom.

The author was previously married to Marco Liting in August 1988, before her 20th birthday. They split in 1995, seven years after marriage.

She blames early marriage and her own infidelity for her failed marriage. As a result, she planned to hike to get the negativity out of her system.

She completed the long hike on the Pacific Crest Trail and gave herself a fresh start.

It was nine days after the hike she met Brian through mutual friends. The couple got married in 1999 following a four-year-long relationship.

The happy couple lives in east Portland, Oregon, with their son Carve, 18, and daughter Bobbi, 17.

Their daughter portrayed the younger version of Cheryl in the 2014 film adaptation of Wild.

The True Story Behind Tiny Beautiful Things

Tiny Beautiful Things is based on Cheryl’s book of the same name. The mini-series is generally fictional but closely mirrors Strayed’s life experiences.

The film premiered on April 7, 2023, on Hulu. Adapted by Liz Tigelaar, the mini-series is produced by Best Day Ever Productions, Hello Sunshine, ABC Signature, and Jaywalker Pictures.

Many of these events were included in the advice columns she wrote anonymously under a pseudo name, Sugar.

Hulu’s Tiny Beautiful Things follows Clare, a writer who reluctantly becomes an advice columnist during a period of turmoil in her life.

The series stars-

Kathryn Hahn as Clare Pierce
Quentin Plair as Danny Kincade
Tanzyn Crawford as Rae Kincade
Merritt Wever as Frankie
Owen Painter as younger Lucas

Kathryn Hahn as Clare Pierce

Quentin Plair as Danny Kincade

Tanzyn Crawford as Rae Kincade

Merritt Wever as Frankie

Owen Painter as younger Lucas

Nick Stahl as older Lucas

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