Everyone knows who Jeff Bezos is.
The Amazon founder is periodically the richest man in the world, depending on what Elon Musk has been up to the previous week, and his name is rarely out of the press.
When it comes to his kids, though, it’s a different matter.
Bezos has gone to great lengths to keep his children and their lives out of the spotlight. So much so that not even their names are known, aside from his eldest.
It’s not as though he hides them away, they have posed together as a family on the red carpet in the past, for instance, but sightings are rare. We know he has 4 children from his first marriage, but he never discloses any private family details in interviews and the like.
There is enough information out there to start building a picture though, and since his divorce from MacKenzie Scott in 2019 and his subsequent engagement to Lauren Sánchez in 2019, his brood has grown by 3. Well, sort of. Sánchez has 3 children of her own from previous relationships, and Bezos will become their step-father.
So I will tackle this in two parts, starting with his biological kids.
Biological Kids
I have to go back on myself here, because while Jeff Bezos does have 4 children from his first marriage, only 3 of them are biological.
He and MacKenzie Scott had 3 boys of their own before adopting a daughter from China. The reason behind the adoption is not publicly known, but perhaps they always wanted a girl to complete their family and decided to do a bit of good in the world at the same time.
It is thought his daughter is the youngest of Bezos’ children, with his first being born in 2000. This would make all of them adults by now, or in their very late teens at the absolute youngest.
There is very little known about the two middle boys. We can sensibly guestimate that they were born between 2001 and 2005, we can assume they were privately educated at the best schools in America, but we don’t know their names.
That is not true of his first and eldest child, though.
Preston Bezos
Much more is known about Bezos’ first child than all of the others, including his name and birth year.
Preston Bezos was born in 2000, which makes him a young adult today.
There are pretty strong rumours that he went to Princeton, and since both of his parents went there too, that’s not beyond the realms of possibility. Jeff Bezos was seen attending MIT’s commencement ceremony in 2022, so there has also been speculation that Preston attended the prestigious university.
It’s certain he had the finest education money can buy.
As for his name, Preston, it is Jeff’s middle name, and also the middle name of his grandfather and great grandfather, so it has huge familial significance. This is one part of the puzzle we can confidently explain.
Step Children
Lauren Sánchez had 3 children prior to her relationship with Jeff Bezos, so when they marry, her children will technically become his step-children.
However, since they were born in 2001, 2006, and 2008, he won’t have a lot of step-fathering to do as they are pretty much grown up.
Nevertheless, his step children are as follows:
- Nikko Gonzalez – Born in 2001, Nikko is Sánchez’ son with former NFL player, Tony Gonzalez. Nikko works as a model.
- Evan Whitesell – Born in 2006, Evan is Sánchez’ first child with Patrick Whitesell, a businessman. Evan is dyslexic, like his mother, and still in full time education.
- Ella Whitesell – Born in 2008, much less is known about Ella’s life, although her mother has often commented on her creativity and independence.
While he will undoubtedly end up spending time with Nikko, Evan, and Ella, they have fathers of their own and are already raised, so Bezos probably won’t think of them as his kids. His relationship with them is more likely to be one of friendship and support (if asked for), with their biological fathers taking the lead in what remains of their upbringing.
Bezos as a Father
While Bezos hasn’t exactly sat down and written a book about his approach to parenting, it’s possible to gain some insight into his parenting philosophy by cobbling together quotes of his from over the years.
On several occasions, the billionaire has mentioned that he likes to be present before and after the working day. He is not the kind of Dad who hardly sees his children due to work commitments or rushes to leave the house in the morning.
He highly values what he calls his “puttering time”. This appears to be referencing the time you spend pottering around the house doing little bits and bobs.
Bezos once said:
“I like to have breakfast with my kids before they go to school. My puttering time is very important to me,”
This is the same in the evening. He went on to describe how he does the dishes every evening, and is convinced it is the “sexiest thing” about him.
Oh Jeff, what are you like?
Speaking at the Summit LA Series in 2017, Bezos recalled his time watching his grandfather figure out how to tackle complex DIY problems, and noted how this taught him to be resourceful and self sufficient. It’s something he wanted to instil in his own children, so much so that he let them use sharp knives and power drills from an early age.
Supervised of course. Stand down social services.
That said, his wife at the time, MacKenzie Scott, said they:
“would much rather have a kid with nine fingers than a resourceless kid,”
Luckily, he and Scott raised intelligent children, and they managed to keep all of their digits as far as anyone knows.
We might not know what any of them want to do in their careers, but Bezos has always encouraged his children to find something they can feel passionate about. We know this because he said as much at an education gala in 2018. He shared the advice with the audience and stated it was the same advice he gave his children. He backed this up by explaining how youngsters can find their passion through exploration – he wanted to be a scientist, but along that journey, found himself much more passionate about technology and entrepreneurship.
His kids are more or less adults now, so no doubt he has far less parenting to do these days than he used to, but still, it’s a little insight into how he raised his kids.
