At a Glance
- MacKenzie Scott has donated over $26 billion to more than 2,700 nonprofits since 2019
- She pledged to give away at least half her wealth after divorcing Jeff Bezos following 25 years of marriage
- Scott briefly married chemistry teacher Dan Jewett from 2021 to 2022
- Why it matters: Her “no strings attached” donations reshape how billionaires approach philanthropy
MacKenzie Scott transformed from Amazon co-founder’s spouse to one of the world’s most prolific philanthropists after her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos. In less than six years, she has given away more than $26 billion using a radical approach: she sends money and walks away, letting each charity decide how to spend it.
From Writer to Tech Spouse
Scott grew up in an affluent San Francisco neighborhood where her father worked as a financial advisor and her mother stayed home to raise Scott and her two brothers. At 17, her father’s firm filed for bankruptcy, prompting her to graduate a year early from Hotchkiss, her Connecticut boarding school. She waitressed to pay tuition at Princeton University, where she studied creative writing under the late Toni Morrison.
After college, she moved to New York City to write a novel but found waitressing left little time for creativity. When a financial firm invited her to interview, she accepted. Jeff Bezos, then a vice president, conducted the interview, hired her on Morrison’s recommendation, and began a three-month courtship that ended in a 1993 wedding.
The Garage Startup
Months after marrying, Bezos told Scott he wanted to quit his job and launch an online bookstore. She encouraged the leap, and they relocated to Seattle. In 1994, Amazon incorporated in the garage of their Washington home. “I’m not a businessperson,” Scott later told Charlie Rose in 2013, “but watching your spouse have an adventure-what is better than that?”
Family Life Behind Closed Doors
The couple had four children whose names and birth years they never made public. Scott paused her writing career after their third child arrived, telling Vogue in 2013, “I knew I couldn’t be the kind of parent I wanted to be and continue writing. Those years were just too busy.”
When they announced their divorce in January 2019, Bezos posted on X: “Though the labels might be different, we remain a family, and we remain cherished friends.”
The $26 Billion Giveaway
Finalized in 2019, the divorce left Scott with a 4% Amazon stake worth roughly $36 billion at the time. That May she signed the Giving Pledge, promising to donate at least half her fortune. She created Yield Giving to list every grant, revealing gifts to:
- Over 2,700 nonprofits
- 23 historically Black colleges and universities in 2020-$560 million total
- The Trevor Project-a $45 million check in 2026 after the federal government cut $25 million in funding
“My approach will continue to be thoughtful,” she wrote. “It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”
A Short Second Marriage
In 2021 Scott married Dan Jewett, a chemistry teacher at her children’s school. Jewett joined the Giving Pledge, praising her as “one of the most generous and kind people” he knew. The union lasted just over a year; Scott filed for divorce in September 2022, and it was finalized four months later.
Literary Career
Beyond philanthropy, Scott has published two novels:
- The Testing of Luther Albright (2005), a decade in the making
- Traps (2013)
Morrison called her “an extraordinary writer, almost full-blown.”
Key Takeaways
- Scott’s fortune funds a new model of philanthropy: rapid, unrestricted, transparent
- She controls no foundation; every gift comes with zero reporting requirements
- Bezos married former news anchor Lauren Sánchez in June 2025, closing another chapter in the billionaire’s personal saga
