LA Times, Aug 24, 1990:
Born in Connecticut, Wilson spent most of his teen-age years abroad. His father was a journalist overseas, mostly in Paris, where the younger Wilson learned the language and developed a love of everything French. According to Bryant, Wilson began calling California home after receiving a bachelor's degree in history from UC Santa Barbara.Financial Times, Oct 4, 2003 p13
The son of journalists, Mr Wilson was raised in California and graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara - a place with its share of people who fit Mr Wilson's description of himself as "a former hippie, surf bum and ski bum".
Maybe he spent most of his teenage years abroad because being French California was "abroad" to him? :)