Linda Harwood is the mother of Joseph (Violent J), Robert (Jumpsteady) and Theresa. She was married with Richard Bruce until he stole the family money and left when Violent J was two.

Joes' mother, Linda Harwood, was a devout catholic, and worked nights cleaning the basement of a Church in a neighboring suburb. With such limited means, and being a single mother of 3, she could not afford life in their pleasant suburb alone for long, and thus had no choice but to remarry; this time to an fifty year old, well off man named Lester Wool. Lester provided Joes' first notion of evil. A rich man, he would provide lavish gifts to Joes' mother Linda, but when Linda was away, a different side came out. A serial molester, Lester had been an unwanted member of several families before Joes', and presumably several
after. He molested Joe, as well as his two siblings, until his older sister Theresa left a note telling their mother of his acts, before running away. Lester was thrown out.

Things only got worse. Once again on her own raising 3 children, Linda had to move the family out of the expensive Berkley neighborhood, and into a tiny house in Oak Park, a low rent suburb on the outer limits of the Detroit ghetto zone. Violence and death were everyday realities for Joe now