Category: Mark Zuckerberg

It’s no secret that nepo babies have popped up all over Hollywood recently, with a slew of celebrity offspring benefiting from their famous parents connections and getting a leg up in the movie, modeling, and music industries.

But some A-listers have worked tirelessly to ensure the opposite for their kids – revealing that they will not be giving them any of their massive fortunes and forcing them to make their own livings.

Take Jeff Goldblum, for example. The acclaimed actor, who is worth roughly $40 million, recently admitted that he was going to cut his children off financially when they get older.

And he’s not the only one. In fact, many stars have been open about their attempts to teach their kids that money doesn’t grow on trees over the years.

Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar once revealed that she charged her daughter for milk after she noticed her wasting a lot of the beverage, and acclaimed chef Gordon Ramsay has said that he forces his kids to sit in economy class while he buys himself a first class ticket – since ‘they haven’t worked anywhere near hard enough to afford that.’

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has stated that he always tells his kids that they’re not rich, he is – and that he asks them to form a detailed plan about how the funds will be used if they ever ask him for money for something. 

In addition, stars like Anderson Cooper, Daniel Craig, Elton John, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, and Simon Cowell have all revealed that they will not leave their multi-million dollar trusts to their offspring.

Even some of the world’s top business moguls like Bill Gates and Melinda Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, and Steve Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs have vowed that their children will not inherit their immense wealth.

In the midst of Jeff’s admission, take a look at all of the celebrities who have made it clear that they’re not spoiling their children despite having millions in the bank.

Jeff Goldblum

Jeff, 71, explained on a recent appearance on Bruce Bozzi’s podcast Table for Two that he has no plans to let his two sons, Charlie, eight, and River, six – whom he shares with his wife, dancer Emilie Livingston – live off his earnings when they’re older.

The Jurassic Park alum – who has an estimated net worth of $40 million – said he is determined to teach the youngsters that they have to ‘row their own boats.’

‘It’s an important thing to teach kids. I’m not going to do it for you. And you’re not going to want me to do it for you,’ said the actor.

‘You’ve got to figure out how to find out what’s wanted and needed and where that intersects with your love and passion and what you can do. And even if it doesn’t, you might have to do that anyway.’ 

Gordon Ramsay 

Gordon, 57, has built a massive food empire and earned an immense fortune along the way – but he revealed in 2017 that his money won’t go to his kids when he passes away.

The acclaimed chef and TV star, whose net worth is estimated to be around $220 million, previously explained to Telegraph, ‘I’ve never been really turned on about the money.

‘That’s not my number one objective, and that’s reflected in the way the kids are brought up.

‘[My fortune is] definitely not going to them, and that’s not in a mean way, it’s to not spoil them.’ 

Gordon has six kids with his wife Tana Hutcheson – Megan, 25, Holly, 24, Jack, 24, Tilly, 22, Oscar, five, Jesse, six months. 

He told the publication that he hardly ever brings his kids to his Michelin-starred restaurant – and that he even forces them to sit in economy while he and Tana buy first class seats when they travel as a family. 

‘They don’t sit with us in first class. They haven’t worked anywhere near hard enough to afford that,’ he added.

‘At that age, at that size, you’re telling me they need to sit in first class? No, they do not. We’re really strict on that.’

Earlier this year, he also dished on how he taught his kids to save their money during an episode of the show Last Meals. 

He explained that he gives them a monthly allowance – and matches whatever they have left of it at the end of the year.

‘Every month, [they get] a couple hundred dollars, and if they save that up across the 12-month period, I match that at Christmas for them,’ he said.

‘When you start that practice at sort [of a young age]… all of a sudden their minds are focused on their career paths. They are super disciplined and they are on it, man.’

Bill and Melinda Gates

Despite being one of the richest business moguls on the planet, Microsoft founder Bill, 68 – who has a whopping net worth of $128 billion – has voiced his fears over his kids becoming ‘distorted’ over ‘wealth’ on numerous occasions. 

He and ex-wife Melinda, 59, have continuously insisted that they are working hard to ensure that their kids ‘create their own path.’ 

While raising their children, the former couple – who split in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage – did their best to give their three kids Jennifer, 28, Rory, 24 and Phoebe, 21, a normal childhood. 

They made them do chores and split the household work as evenly as possible, while tech mogul Bill has even admitted that he was a stickler about screen time – and didn’t allow his kids to have phones until they were age 14. 

Back in 2017, he vowed to use his immense fortune to ‘help the poor’ rather than his own children.

‘Our kids will receive a great education and some money so they are never going to be poorly off but they’ll go out and have their own career,’ he explained to This Morning.

‘It’s not a favor to kids to have them have huge sums of wealth. It distorts anything they might do, creating their own path.

‘This money is dedicated to helping the poorest. They know that, they are proud of that, they go on trips with us to see the work that’s being done.’

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Sarah, 47, has been outspoken about how she has raised her two kids to not take anything for granted.

The actress, who is worth roughly $30 million, has a daughter, named Charlotte, 14, and a son, named Rocky, 11, with husband Freddie Prinze Jr. 

Back in 2017, she told the Today show that she doesn’t believe in allowances – and even revealed that she had started charging her young daughter for milk.

‘I don’t love the idea of giving them money to do chores that they should do anyway,’ she explained.

‘My daughter was doing this thing lately where she was asking me for a cup of milk and not drinking it. 

‘So I told her that every time she’d ask me for a cup of milk and not drink it, I would take a quarter out of her piggy bank. Someone has to pay for that milk.’

Last year, she also dished on the importance of teaching kids about money after she partnered with Fidelity.

She said she started talking to her children about finances and saving as young as five years old. 

‘We want them to understand certain things, especially because Freddie and I grew up differently than they did,’ she dished.

‘We both had single parents and lived paycheck to paycheck – and sometimes didn’t get that paycheck.

‘Their life is different, and so we want them to have an appreciation for things and understand not everyone is as fortunate.

‘We started simple with our kids – we had three mason jars: save, spend and donate. We wanted them to understand what it’s like to save up for something.’

Anderson Cooper

Despite receiving a $1.5 million inheritance in 2019, Anderson, 56, revealed in 2021 that he ‘doesn’t believe in passing on huge amounts of money.’

‘I don’t intend to have some sort of pot of gold for my [sons],’ he explained on Air Mail’s Morning Meeting podcast. 

‘I’ll go with what my parents said, “College will be paid for, and then you gotta get on it.”‘

The journalist, whose net worth is estimated to be around $200 million, welcomed two sons named Wyatt, four, and Sebastian, two, via surrogate with his ex Benjamin Maisani.

He explained that even though he hailed from the prominent Vanderbilt family, he was taught ‘from a very young age’ that he would have to work hard and make his own earnings – which ‘motivated’ him to make a name for himself.

He shared: ‘From a very young age, I was very aware of, “This is not me. This is something my mom has,” or, “This is money my mom has, but it’s not money I’m going to have and I need to forge my own way.”‘

Daniel Craig

Movie star Daniel, 56, also has no plans to leave his immense earnings to his kids – instead, he wants to ‘give it all away.’

The James Bond actor – who has a net worth of $160 million – shares daughter Ella Loudon, 31, with his first wife, Fiona Loudon, and another daughter, whose name has not been shared, six, with current spouse Rachel Weisz. 

He is also the step father to her son, Henry, 17.

‘Isn’t there an old adage that if you die a rich person, you’ve failed?’ he told Candis magazine last year. 

‘I don’t want to leave great sums to the next generation. 

‘I think inheritance is quite distasteful. 

‘My philosophy is get rid of it or give it away before you go.’ 

Elton John

Elton, 77, told the Mirror in 2016 that welcoming his sons, Zachary, 13, and Elijah, 11, with partner David Furnish, 61, changed his perspective on wealth.

‘Having children changed everything about my life. I’ve learned that the simplest things in life – like having a minute with them – are worth more than any painting, any photograph, any house or any hit record,’ he said. 

‘Before we had the children we just had our lives, and would spend money because we didn’t have anything else to focus on. 

‘We have really toned things down because we have enough stuff. There is nothing else we need.’

At the time, the singer, who is worth an estimated $650 million, said that while he wants to ‘leave his boys in a very sound financial state,’ he doesn’t want to leave them all of his money after he passes away.

‘It’s terrible to give kids a silver spoon. It ruins their life,’ he said. ‘We’re still working out the details and it’s about finding the balance.

‘I came from a very working class family and was born in a council estate house. I earned everything I did from hard work and that’s the way they’ve got to do it as well.

‘They have to do chores in the house – take their plates to be cleaned, help in the kitchen, tidy their rooms and help in the garden, and each time they do they get a little star to put on these charts they’ve made. They understand they need to do these things, and they enjoy it.’ 

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher

Actors Mila, 40, and Ashton, 46, are trying to raise their children, Wyatt, nine, and Dimitri, seven, as modestly as possible, despite being worth a joint $275 million.

In 2017, the Family Guy star told Entertainment Tonight that she and her husband had made a ‘no presents’ rule for their kids at Christmastime after their parents spoiled them the year prior.

‘The kids no longer appreciate the one gift. They don’t even know what they’re expecting – they’re just expecting stuff,’ she said.

‘We’ve told our parents, “We’re begging you – if you have to give something, pick one gift. Otherwise, we’d like to take a charitable donation to a children’s hospital or a pet – whatever you want.” That’s our new tradition.’

And in 2020, Ashton said they were not planning to leave any of their fortune to their kids when they die one day.

‘My kids are living a really privileged life, and they don’t even know it,’ he explained on Dax Shephard’s podcast, Armchair Expert. ‘And they’ll never know it because this is the only one that they’ll know. 

‘I’m not setting up a trust for them. We’ll end up giving our money away to charity and to various things.

‘If my kids want to start a business, and they have a good business plan, I’ll invest in it. But they’re not getting trusts. 

‘So, hopefully, they’ll be motivated to have what they had or some version of what they had.’ 

Simon Cowell 

Simon, 64, has said that he wants to leave his $600 million fortune to ‘charity’ rather than his son, Eric, 10, who he shares with fiancée Lauren Silverman.

‘I’m going to leave my money to somebody. A charity, probably – kids and dogs. 

‘I don’t believe in passing on from one generation to another,’ he said to Mirror in 2013.

‘Your legacy has to be that hopefully you gave enough people an opportunity, so that they could do well, and you gave them your time, taught them what you know.’ 

Mark Zuckerberg 

Immediately after the birth of his daughter, Maxima, in 2015, billionaire Facebook founder Mark, 39, announced that he was not going to leave his massive wealth to her.

‘Like all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today,’ wrote the entrepreneur, who has an estimated net worth of $152 billion. 

‘While headlines often focus on what’s wrong, in many ways the world is getting better. 

‘Health is improving. Poverty is shrinking. Knowledge is growing. People are connecting. 

‘Technological progress in every field means your life should be dramatically better than ours today.

‘We will do our part to make this happen, not only because we love you, but also because we have a moral responsibility to all children in the next generation.

‘We believe all lives have equal value, and that includes the many more people who will live in future generations than live today. 

‘Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here.’

At the time, Mark said they were going to give 99 per cent of their Facebook shares to ‘advance the mission.’

He and his wife, Priscilla Chan, went on to welcome their second daughter, August, in 2017, followed by their third, Aurelia, in 2023.

Back in 2019, the mogul spoke to CBS about how he and his wife try to keep their kids grounded. 

‘First of all, we don’t give them everything,’ he said. ‘I think that that’s an important piece. They have chores.’

Priscilla added, ‘We also take [our daughters] to work. Mark and I take both of them to work, to the office, to see sort of what we do, how we contribute.’

Shaquille O’Neal

Shaquille stated last year that he had ‘no intention’ of giving his $500 million net worth to his six kids.

The athlete, 52, who ‘came from nothing,’ explained that he wants his children – Taahira, 27, Myles, 26, Shareef, 24, Amirah, 22, Shaqir, 21, and Me’arah, 18 – to ‘figure it out’ on their own like he did.

‘My kids are older now. They’re kinda upset with me. Not really upset, but they don’t understand,’ he said. ‘I tell them all the time. We ain’t rich. I’m rich.’ 

He also told Insider months later that he takes the approach of ‘respectable nepotism’ with his kids. 

The NBA star explained that if any of them want money for something, he said they need to give him a detailed ‘plan’ about how they’ll use it.

‘Since you want me to be the bank, I’m gonna do exactly what the bank is going to do to you,’ he stated. 

He also joked that he was ‘bribing’ his kids to continue their schooling past their bachelor’s degrees.

‘I’m like, “If you go to law school and graduate, you get a big bag,”‘ he dished. ‘I’m trying to bribe all of them like, “Hey, just go to law school for me and I’ll give you whatever you want.”‘

Guy Fieri

Restauranteur Guy Fieri told Fox News last year that he had heard Shaq’s quotes and had taken a similar approach with his own kids.

‘Shaq said it best. He said, “If you want this cheese, you got to get to two degrees,”‘ he explained.

Guy, 56, shares sons Hunter, 27, and Ryder, 18, with his wife, Lori Fieri. He has also helped raise his nephew, Jules since 2011, when his sister died.

The star – whose net worth is estimated to be around $100 million – added that he doesn’t want his kids to expect to get his money after he passes away.

‘I’ve told them the same thing my dad told me. My dad says, “When I die, you can expect that I’m going to die broke, and you’re going to be paying for the funeral,”‘ he said.

‘And I told my boys, “None of this that I’ve been building are you going to get unless you come and take it from me.”‘

Sting  

Musician Sting revealed to DailyMail.com in 2014 that he told his kids they shouldn’t expect to live off his massive $550 million fortune.

He explained that he doesn’t think there will ‘be much money left’ anyway, since he constantly ‘spends it.’

‘We have a lot of commitments. What comes in, we spend, and there isn’t much left,’ he shared.

‘I certainly don’t want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks.

‘They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate.

‘Obviously, if they were in trouble I would help them, but I’ve never really had to do that. They have the work ethic that makes them want to succeed on their own merit.’

The English star, 72, has six kids – Joe, 47, Fuchsia, 42, Mickey, 40, Jake, 38, Eliot, 33, and Giacomo, 28.

He spoke out about his decision further to Stellar magazine, and he said he didn’t want to ‘rob them’ of the ‘pleasure and satisfaction of making it on their own’ money.

Laurene Powell Jobs

Apple creator Steve’s widow Laurene inherited the mogul’s fortune when he passed away in 2011 – but she announced in 2020 that the money won’t go to their kids when she dies.

Laurene, 60, is currently estimated to have a $12.9 billion net worth. She and Steve had three kids together – Reed, 32, Erin, 28, and Eve, 25.

‘I’ve dedicated my life to doing the very best I can to distribute [my husband’s money] effectively, in ways that lift up individuals and communities in a sustainable way,’ she told the New York Times.

‘I’m not interested in legacy wealth buildings, and my children know that. Steve wasn’t interested in that. If I live long enough, it ends with me.’

Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren, 93, has racked up an immense net worth of $132.2 billion.

And he has long been open about how he wants to donate most of his money rather than leaving it to his kids – Susan, 70, Howard, 69, and Peter, 65.

Warren pledged in 2010 that 99 per cent of his earnings would go to charity instead.

‘It was always clear we were not going to get a lot of money,’ Howard told the New York Times in 2006.

‘If my dad said, “Either you can have $50 million a year personally or $50 million a year for the foundation,” I’d put it in the foundation.’