Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Michael Loccisano
Topics: Bill Gates, Parenting, Celebrity, News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Bill Gates, Parenting, Celebrity, News
Bill Gates might be a multi-billionaire and arguably one of the smartest people in the world, but to his three kids, he's just a dad.
Like many dads, Gates set out rules for his children to follow.
As seen in TV shows like Succession, most children of rich parents expect to be handed things on a platter (whether that's money or jobs), but that's not the case with Gates and his children and he shared that his son and daughters will only inherit a small amount of his wealth when he dies.
The Microsoft co-founder shares Phoebe, 22, Rory, 25, and 28-year-old Jennifer with his ex wife Melinda, who he divorced in 2021.
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The couple were together for nearly 30 years and Gates has since admitted that he regrets splitting from the mother of his kids.
As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, at the time of writing, tech mogul Gates has a net worth of $147 billion, and his children will be getting less than one percent of that.
While it's only a small percentage, with his staggering wealth in mind, Phoebe, Rory, and Jennifer will still go on to get a pretty decent wedge from their dad.
Phoebe, the youngest of Gates' kids, has been in the spotlight more of late having recently started up her own podcast called The Burnouts.
In one episode, the 22-year-old admitted that she was a 'nepo baby'. But this comes with its downsides, she said, as she feels the need to prove herself more.
"I had so much insecurity and such a desire to prove myself," she shared. "I came in I was like I have so much privilege, I’m a nepo baby, I had so much insecurity around that."
Speaking about being a student at Stanford University, Phoebe added: "I feel like it’s so hard when you’re a freshman in college because you have no experience, you have nothing."
Phoebe graduated from university last year with a degree in Human Biology.
While she completed her studies, her father famously did not and he dropped out of Harvard — but apparently Gates insisted that Phoebe didn't follow in his footsteps.
She shared: "[My parents] were very much like, 'You need to finish your degree; you don't just get to like drop out and do a company.' Which is so funny because my dad literally did that, and that's, like, the reason I'm able to go to Stanford or have my tuition paid."
As the age-old saying goes: do as I say, not as I do.