Meet the Little-Known Wives and Girlfriends of These Billionaires

Even though her husband is a billionaire, Salma Hayek is still arguably the more famous of the two. Still, you likely know some of the biggest names François-Henri Pinault has in his portfolio. Pinault belongs to a wealthy French family that owns companies like Gucci, Balenciaga, Yves St. Laurent, and Christie’s Auction House. Pinault is worth an estimated $43 billion, and he and Hayek reportedly met at an event in Venice in 2006. 

Jeff Bezos recently went through a rather public split that saw the once-richest man in the world lose $36 billion during a divorce. However, he’s not hurting for money as he’s still worth more than $135 billion. Reportedly, he started seeing Lauren Sanchez right before splitting up with ex-wife MacKenzie. The two made things public after the divorce was finalized. Sanchez founded an ariel filming company called Black Ops Aviation, which has worked on movies like Dunkirk.

Priscilla Chan is one of the few people on this list that doesn’t need much of an introduction. The wife of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, the two are often seen together at outings and events. However, unlike other billionaires on this list, the two met way before Zuckerberg was worth his current fortune of $123.1 billion. The two met during a college party Zuckerberg threw in 2003 and began dating shortly after. 

Tesla founder Elon Musk has had a couple of wives, and a couple of messy divorces since his company first became profitable. His latest partner was Claire Boucher, a Canadian musician who goes by Grimes, though the two had an on-again, off-again relationship and he’s now reportedly dating someone else. He and grimes met through a Twitter discussion, (fittingly enough), that involved French art and an AI dystopia. However, probably their most famous act as a couple was in naming their two children.

Kate Capshaw is a retired actress who has played in a number of movies, including Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, Scarface, and Dreamscape. So, it’s no surprise then that she ended up marrying director Steven Spielberg. The two actually met on the set of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom and ended up marrying in 1991. The two now have seven children together. 

Charlene Lynette Wittstock was an Olympic swimmer for South Africa in 2000, so it’s not really a surprise she met her now-husband Prince Albert II of Monaco at a swimming competition in 2000. The two married in 2010, relieving some who thought the prince would never marry and produce heirs (the two had twins in 2014). Charlene Lynette Wittstock founded the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation to support underprivileged children and promote sports.

John Paul Dejoria and Eloise Broady Dejoria were married in 1993, and while they might not be everyday names, you likely know John from his hair care company Paul Mitchell. He also used to own Patron Spirits, which makes premium tequila. Eloise is more recognized for her work in philanthropy, modeling, and business. Both she and her husband signed the Giving Pledge in 2011, in which they promised to give away at least half of their fortunes. 

Sergey Brin is no stranger to the spotlight, what with being a co-founder of Google and all. However, his wife is much more secretive. The two didn’t even announce they were married in 2018 until a full year later. But, we do know that Nicole Shanahan is well-known in the legal world. She is the founder of a company called ClearAccessIP, which works with patents. Shanahan has also founded a company called Bia-Echo Foundation that works towards justice system reform, social change, and female fertility. 

Fabiana Flossi first met former Formula One boss Bernie Eccelstone in 2009 at the World Motor Sport Council. The two were married in 2012 despite having a 46-year age gap. Flossi was the vice president of marketing for the Brazilian Grand Prix when the two met, but besides that, not much else is known. The two did have one son though and Flossi’s mother was reportedly kidnapped once. 

Evan Spiegel is a co-founder of Snapchat and was one of the youngest people to ever become a billionaire went he hit 25. Today, he’s still worth around $3 billion. He’s married to Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr, with whom he tied the knot in 2017. The two met during an event at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and on their first date, Spiegal gave Kerr a gingerbread house with her son’s name on it. 

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch married Wendi Deng Murdoch in 1999 and the two were together for some 14 years before a pretty nasty public breakup. Rupert reportedly told friends that she was a spy. U.S. intelligence services also warned Jared Kushner, a close friend of Wendi, that she might have worked on behalf of the Chinese government, according to The Guardian. She has said that she would file a lawsuit in response to Rupert’s claims. 

Steve Jobs passed away in 2011, but his legacy is still very much felt today and you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of the Apple founder. He also left behind quite the fortune for his widow, Lauren Powell Jobs. The two met during a lecture that Steve was giving at Stanford in 1989 and they were married two years later. Today, Laurene uses most of her fortune for philanthropy. 

Although Salman Rushdie and Padma Lakshmi are no longer together, they were one of the few couples on this list who didn’t make their fortunes from a business. Instead, both of them are highly-celebrated authors. Of course, Lakshmi is also an actress, model, and television host but her writing resume runs deep, with several books published and multiple style articles for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Lakshmi also speaks five different languages and spends much of her time on philanthropy. 

Larry Ellison is the founder of Oracle, which provides cloud-based solutions for companies. That might not sound very exciting unless you’re really into tech, but it’s netted him enough to buy most of the Hawaiian island, Lanai, as well as a seat on Tesla’s board. He has a net worth of around $92 billion and has been dating Nikita Kahn for around a decade now. Kahn is an actress, model, and businesswoman, though she’s also well known for her animal advocacy. 

Leslie Moonves served as CEO of CBS from 2003 to 2018. However, you’re likely more familiar with his wife Julie Chen, who was a long-time news anchor at the company and is now a producer and T.V. show host. The couple married in 2004, but Chen still hosts the network’s reality show Big Brother. However, she has said that she was basically forced to take the job and originally wanted to be the face of 60 Minutes. 

Billionaire businessman and philanthropist George Soros wed Tamiko Bolton in 2013. The two originally met in 2008 and despite being around 40 years apart in age, they seemed to have hit it off. Bolton’s father was a commander in the Navy, but not much else is known about her and she generally keeps a low profile. She does, however, travel to speak on behalf of Soros’s business and is a partner with Soros Fund Management. 

Richard Branson might be one of the most public people in the world, but not much is actually reported on his wife, Joan Templeton. However, we do know that she was married when the two first met. Branson has said that he invited her for a flyover of an island that he pretended to be interested in buying. But, it was all just a scheme in order to get to take a flight with him. 

Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz met his wife Cari Tuna during a blind date in 2009 when she was working as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. In 2013, they decided to tie the knot. However, things were obviously going well even before then as Tuna left her job and focused more on the two’s charity work long before that. In fact, the two signed onto the Giving Pledge campaign in 2010 to give away half their wealth. 

Lucinda Southworth is the wife of Google co-founder Larry Page. However, her husband isn’t the only genius in the family. She holds a number of degrees, including a PhD in Biomedical Informatics from Stanford and other degrees from Oxford and the University of Pennsylvania. The two had their wedding on a private island, where a couple of other names from this list showed up as guests. The two founded the Carl Victor Page Memorial Foundation in 2004, which raises money for different social issues, such as education, healthcare, and poverty.   

As you might have surmised Michael and Susan Dell are the pair behind Dell computers. Reportedly, they met on a blind date way back in 1988 and were wed a year later. However, she wasn’t idle while her husband worked to grow the business. She’s started three separate fashion labels and competed in marathons and cycling events around the world. Like many others on this list, Michael and Susan Dell have also started their own non-profit. 

There are few big names as synonymous with New York City as Michael Bloomberg, but his partner Diana Taylor might be right up there. She and Bloomberg have been together since 2000 and first met when he was giving a talk. Like her partner, she’s held a number of high-profile gigs in the city, including stints on Wall Street and as a public servant. The two reportedly hit it off after Bloomberg approached after the talk and asked if she’d like to have drinks.

Ralph Lauren and Ricky Lauren might just be one of the longest-married couples on this list. Despite this, the two actually waited quite a while to tie the knot. They met in 1946 while Ricky was working as a receptionist at a doctor’s office and started dating shortly after. However, they waited until 1964 to actually get married, despite the fashion icon allegedly proposing on the first date. Ricky is an accomplished author and artist, having written around five books. 

Bill and Melinda Gates are now separated but the former couple was once the wealthiest duo in the world. The two met in 1987 and were married seven years later. And while Bill is known for founding Microsoft, Melinda had her own background in computer science. Famously, the two founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation together, but since the divorce, Melinda has said she plans on donating the bulk of her wealth to other charitable outlets. 

Anyone who’s even a tad bit familiar with Microsoft has likely heard of Steve Ballmer. He served as CEO of the company from 2000 to 2014. However, his wife is usually in the news for more philanthropic endeavors. Connie co-founded an organization that’s dedicated to economic mobility for lower-income families. She also studied journalism at the University of Oregon and served on the school’s board for a time. The two have been together since way before Steve’s Microsoft days though, and they were originally wed in 1990.  

Although he’s not quite as famous in name as some of the other people on this list, odds are you’ve heard of Pierre Omidyar’s company a time or two. He actually founded eBay, the online auction site. He and his now-wife, Pam, met and started dating while the two were still in college. Today, the two are largely focused on philanthropy. They both set up the Omidyar Network in 2004. 

It’s not every day you hear of a billionaire power couple meeting through Tinder, but that’s what happened with Brian Chesky and Elissa Patel Waverly in 2013. Chesky is a co-founder of Airbnb and is worth around $8.2 billion. Waverly, an Indian American, previously worked in marketing and has a marketing degree from Santa Clara University. She’s also studied at Shanghai University, though she’s decided to pursue her passion in recent years. 

James Dyson’s name is now synonymous with vacuum cleaners, but that wasn’t true when he met his now-wife Deirdre Dyson in 1966, or even when they got married later in 1968. No, back then Deirdre was the family breadwinner and taught art to ensure that the two could get by. Today, the two are wealthy enough to have started their own charity that focuses on the arts, healthcare, and education. 

Although Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt fully left the company in 2020, he’s still worth around $20 billion, according to Bloomberg. That’s much more than he was worth when he met his wife Wendy Schmidt, a former interior designer, in the late 1970s. The two were married in 1980. Since then, they have largely turned their focus towards philanthropy, founding a number of organizations. Wendy, who has sailed competitively, founded Oceans Solutions Initiative in 2010, which focuses on protecting oceans amid climate change. 

Kevin Systrom is a co-founder of Instagram but like a lot of other tech billionaires on this list, he met his wife Nicole Systrom while the two were still in college. The two were married in 2014. And while Kevin is a co-founder of Instagram, you probably have Nicole to thank for its popularity. She was the one who suggested the app integrate filters while the two were vacationing in Mexico. 

Penny Knight was Phil Knight’s student before she was the heiress of the Nike empire. The two met while she was attending his course and he asked her to join his shoe company, which was very small at the time. They eventually started dating and were married in 1968. The two are known for their extremely large donations. In 2020, they gave $900 million to the Knight Foundation and $300 million to their alma mater, the University of Oregon. 

Hélène Mercier married Bernard Arnault in 1990, but not without making the once-richest man in the world work a bit for it. The two began seeing each other the year prior and Arnault played the piano for the star pianist that New Year’s. However, Mercier has said that he was very nervous during the performance, so much so that he began shaking. Even so, it apparently worked because the two are still together today. 

Dan Gilbert is a co-founder of Quicken Loans, which is one of the largest mortgage lenders in the U.S. Coincidentally, he also met his wife Jennifer Gilbert through his time at the company when she came in to design his office. The two now have five children together and Jennifer has founded a number of businesses, as well as a non-profit with her husband. She started the interior design tool Doodle Home in 2010 and a furnishing company in Detroit five years later.  

The late King Hussein of Jordan met Queen Noor after his first wife passed away, and the two wed in 1978. Noor, originally named Lisa Najeeb Halaby, was born into an Arab American family and her father served as secretary of defense while Truman was still in office. However, she is best known for her many different positions working for various UN organizations.

Suzanne Ircha is an actress, whose most notable role was in an episode of Star Trek. However, she’s probably best known for being married to Woody Johnson, a member of the family that started Johnson & Johnson and former U.S. ambassador to the U.K. Suzanne was the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, and she married Woody Johnson in 2009. More recently, the two donated $1 million to relief efforts in Ukraine after the Russian invasion. However, Suzanne has donated to different charities in Ukraine for several years, according to Sports Illustrated. 

Not many Americans may have heard of Mukesh Ambani, but he’s one of the richest men in India and the world. He’s the CEO of Reliance Industries, which has businesses in a variety of sectors and he’s worth around $88 billion. He married his wife, Nita Ambani, in 1985 and she now serves as a member of the company’s board. She also found one of India’s most prestigious schools. 

Most Americans are probably unaware of this superstar Italian DJ, entrepreneur, and social media star. With over 20 million followers both on Instagram and on Tiktok, he’s certainly famous enough in his own region of the world. Part of the reason he’s so popular on social media is his love of showing off his lavish millionaire lifestyle, featuring fancy cars, luxury yachts, private planes, and a beautiful partner on his arm.