Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe spills details about $97m estate

News.com.au

07-05-2025

Bill Gates' daughter, Phoebe, lifted the lid on what it's like to introduce men to her billionaire father.
Speaking to 'Call Her Daddy' host Alex Cooper, the 22-year-old said men are 'terrified' when they meet her 'socially awkward' dad.
It's 'terrifying for the guy' to meet her 69-year-old dad at his $US63 million ($A97 million) Washington estate, said Phoebe, who is dating Paul McCartney's grandson Arthur.
Although her former potential partners have been scared off by her father, Phoebe revealed that she finds the situation 'hilarious.'
'My dad's pretty socially awkward. It's so funny, ' she added.
'Like he's said before, he has Asperger's. So, like to me, it's so funny. But for guys, I think they get really wigged out'.
She then recalled an 'embarrassing' story from her childhood.
'I'll never forget early in high school, before I had a long-term boyfriend, it was like one of my first dances, maybe my sophomore or junior year, and my mum had signed my dad up to drive me and the boy to the dance together,' she said.
While they were driving, Phoebe revealed her father forced them to listen to NPR (National Public Radio) and then called the boy with his daughter the wrong name.
'[I] literally wanted to die, but honestly, I think now, it's become easier for me because it's just funny when you introduce a guy to your dad, depending on how he reacts, that's how you know if he's going to be a good guy or not,' she said.
She is able to joke about the situation because she's more of a 'people person' than her father, she said.
'It used to be a joke [that] our family would be so boring if I wasn't born. I had forced my dad, like at the dad-daughter dances my mum would have us go to, I would force my dad to go talk to all the other dads and daughters there. I was like, 'No. If we're here, we're going to socialise. We've got to work this room, Bill.''
However, Phoebe — who met Arthur during a collaboration event with Stella McCartney and has been dating him for two years — confessed that there is one thing worse than men meeting her dad: Playing a game with him.
'You do not want to play a board game with the two of us, and that's actually worse than introducing a guy to my dad,' she said, branding the two of them 'very competitive.'
Phoebe's confession comes less than one month after he revealed the exact percentage of his wealth he plans to leave to his three children, explaining that their inheritance will be less than 1 per cent of his extraordinary $US152 billion ($A234 billion) fortune, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The Microsoft founder opened up about his feelings around inheritance during an appearance on Raj Shamani's podcast, ' Figuring Out ', when he was asked whether he believes it is a parent's duty to 'save everything for their kids.'
Gates said the debate about inheritance comes down to the opinions of the individual parent.
However, he said it wouldn't do his children any 'favours' to make them feel as though they were expected to carry on some kind of 'dynasty.'
'Everybody gets to decide on that. In my case, my kids got a great upbringing and education but less than 1 per cent of the total wealth,' he explained.
'I decided it wouldn't be a favour to them [to leave them more]. It's not a dynasty. I'm not asking them to run Microsoft.'
Of course, 1 per cent of $US152 billion ($A234 billion) is hardly chump change, and would leave each of Bill's three kids — Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe — with around $US1.52 billion ($A2.3 billion) each, provided they get their own percentage cut of his fortune.
What Gates did not elaborate on is how his wealth will be passed down. Because while the centibillionaire has plenty of bucks in the bank, he also has an array of other high-value assets, including pricey properties across the U.S.
At the heart of that property portfolio is Xanadu 2.0, the Washington state compound named for the fictional estate in the movie 'Citizen Kane.'
According to Realtor, Gates began building the place in 1988, years before he wed his former wife, Melinda.
Located in the Seattle suburb of Medina, Washington State, the compound features amenities, including an advanced security system that can detect who is in the residence by the weight of their footsteps thanks to the pressure-sensitive floors.
The Microsoft founder originally purchased the property on which Xanadu 2.0 now sits for $US2 million and then poured an estimated $US63 million into renovating it, turning the home into an ultra-modern oasis fit for a tech titan.
The home is now believed to be worth an eye-watering $US130 million ($A207 million) according to Fortune.