Jeff Bezos shares four children with ex-wife Mackenzie Scott but they keep a low profile

Updated on February 19, 2024 at 11:36 AM

Jeff Bezos has gone through great lengths to protect the identity of his children with some people theorizing that the Amazon billionaire leverages his power to scrub any trace of his children from the internet.

Jeff Bezos has cultivated one of the largest net worths on the planet and with that comes a lot of notoriety and recognizability. However, Bezos seems to have shielded his children from the attention directed at him.

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The billionaire shares four children with his ex-wife Mackenzie Scott. Only the name of their eldest is known. It is not out of character for wealthy individuals to be protective of their children's identities but it is rare for things to reach this level of secrecy as information about the Bezos children is scarce to say the very least. So why is that the case?

Jeff Bezos and Mackenzie Scott's relationship

Jeff and Mackenzie were married for 25 years before their split in 2019. She is a published writer who had to step back from writing to raise their children while Bezos was in the early days of creating Amazon. After their divorce, she became the second richest woman in America and subsequently became one of the most charitable billionaires. She remarried in 2021.

The very little information we know about Jeff Bezos's Children

Jeff Bezos and Mackenzie Scott are parents to three boys and one girl. Only the name of one son is public – Preston is their eldest. He was named after his father whose second name is Preston. The moniker was passed down from Bezos’ great-grandfather, Lloyd Preston Gise and is an important ode to the family. Preston was born in 2000 and attends Princeton University, his parent’s Alma Matter.

Further details about the other three kinds beyond their gender are very elusive as even their names are unknown. Bezos and Scott adopted their daughter from China, but it's unconfirmed when. Furthermore, only one picture exists of all the children. The picture was taken while the family attended the premiere of Paramount Pictures' Star Trek Beyond.

thumbnail — Jeff Bezos Children Todd Williamson/Getty Images

The reason for the secrecy

Many theories about the reason behind the lengths Bezos went through to keep his children shielded generally lean towards his need to protect them from the possibility of being affected by bad attention due to the controversial nature of some of Amazon’s business dealings. Some theorize that Bezos leverages his power at Amazon to achieve this level of privacy. This is also supported by the fact that Bezos is known to be a loving father who encourages his children to pursue their passions. According to People, at a 2018 gala for global nonprofit FIRST, Bezos shared the best advice he's given his kids when it comes to their careers: