With a net worth of nearly $250 billion, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the richest people on the planet: He’s co-founder of Facebook and CEO of Meta Platforms (META) , a power player in Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as a pioneer in virtual reality and augmented reality technologies. But his proudest title might simply be devoted husband (aka “wife guy”) to Priscilla Chan, whom he married in 2012.
Calling Chan “the most important person in my life,” Zuckerberg showered his wife with all kinds of expensive gifts recently—including a giant statue bearing her likeness that he had commissioned for their backyard. Cast out of stainless steel and oxidized copper by New York-based sculptor David Arsham, the seven-foot work received mixed reviews from the art world, but Zuckerberg likely wasn’t fazed, proclaiming his gift was taken from the playbook of ancient Roman emperors, who constructed larger-than-life statuary of loved ones to serve as symbols of status and virtue.
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Chan is known for keeping a low public profile: She isn’t very active on social media and rarely gives interviews. She and Zuckerberg largely avoid the Hollywood scene that has enchanted other tech leaders, like Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sanchez.
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However, in January 2025, Chan appeared alongside her husband at the inauguration of President Donald Trump as part of a group of billionaires that included Bezos and Sanchez, Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, Alphabet (GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai, and Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk. Actually, Chan and “Zuck” were hard to miss, seated front and center ahead of Trump’s own cabinet picks. It was a display that alarmed many, including former President Joe Biden, who had warned about “the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few very ultra-wealthy people,” in his farewell address.
We think this won’t be the only time we will be seeing Priscilla Chan in the spotlight.
Priscilla Chan and her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, were prominent guests at Donald Trump’s 2025 Inauguration.
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Who is Priscilla Chan?
Chan is a pediatrician and philanthropist who, together with Zuckerberg, established the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) in December 2015. They pledged to donate 99% of their Facebook shares (worth $45 billion at the time) towards solving the world’s problems, mainly through science and technology.
So far, CZI has given away nearly $5 billion in grants and invested $300 million in scientific, educational, and community-building initiatives.
Known as the “Oscars of Science,” Chan and Zuckerberg attended NASA Ames Research Center’s Breakthrough Prize ceremony in 2020.
Ian Tuttle/Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize
How did Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan meet?
The couple met in 2003 as undergraduates at Harvard University. Chan was a freshman biology major, while Zuckerberg was a sophomore psychology student who built computer programs out of his Kirkland House dorm room.
Zuckerberg and Chan’s fairytale romance began in a very pedestrian way—while waiting in line for the bathroom at a fraternity party. In an interview with The New Yorker, Chan admitted Zuckerberg “was this nerdy guy who was just a little bit out there.” He was even wearing beer glasses that spelled out “beer” in C++, a computer programming language, when they met.
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Actually, Zuckerberg had just gotten in trouble with the university for the “prank website” he created, Facesmash, which asked viewers to rate the attractiveness of female students on campus. (It’s unknown whether Chan was included on the list.)
The fraternity get-together was, in fact, a going-away party held in Zuckerberg’s honor since he had been called to appear before Harvard’s ad board for hacking into the campus network.
Zuck admitted that he thought he would be expelled from the school, he said in his 2017 Harvard commencement address, so with nothing to lose, he asked Chan out, heightening his appeal with urgency—as only he could. “In what must be one of the all-time romantic lines, I said, ’I’m going to get kicked out in three days, so we need to go on a date quickly,” he recalled.
Those familiar with the 2010 David Fincher film “The Social Network” know that ultimately, Zuckerberg was not expelled for his actions, although he dropped out of Harvard that summer and moved to California, where he launched “The Facebook.” But even though Facebook would go on to become the world’s most popular social networking platform, Zuckerberg doesn’t consider it to be his most important creation.
“Without Facemash,” he admitted, “I wouldn’t have met Priscilla.”
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Priscilla Chan’s early life
Chan wasn’t the typical Harvard collegiate—her family wasn’t rich. According to The New York Times, 67% of Harvard’s student body represents the top 20% of income distribution, while Chan is a first-generation American whose parents ran a restaurant in the blue-collar neighborhood of Quincy, Mass.
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Chan was born on February 24, 1985, in Braintree, Mass. Her parents, Dennis and Yvonne Chan, were Vietnamese refugees of Chinese descent who fled Vietnam by boat as children. Her father worked long hours to support the family, and Chan, along with her sisters, Elaine and Michelle, were raised speaking Cantonese. Schoolwork was not a priority for her family.
Chan recalls that she was bullied in middle school and often hid in the bathroom to avoid recess. Showing an aptitude for science, she befriended a group of kids who were, as she recounted to Quartz, “not that popular, but truly kind.” Together, they worked on robotics and science projects.
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In 2003, Chan graduated as class valedictorian from Quincy High School, where she was voted “class genius.”
Her leadership abilities were evidenced when she served as captain of the school’s tennis team, which she led to the state championships, and as part of the FIRST Robotics Competition. She credited her teachers for believing in her and helping her discover opportunities beyond the four walls of the classroom. She received a full scholarship to Harvard University.
Priscilla Chan’s career
While Zuckerberg was in California, Chan stayed in Cambridge and finished her bachelor’s degree. After graduating from Harvard in 2007, Chan moved to California to be with her boyfriend, and she began her career by teaching 4th and 5th grade science at the Harker School, a private school in San Jose.
Chan insisted the couple carve out space for their relationship as well as their own personal interests, with 100 minutes of “alone time” as well as date nights together every week.
Chan, whom Zuckerberg calls “Cilla,” also learned how to find patience with her love. “Mark just is overly optimistic about his time management and will get engrossed in interesting ideas,” she revealed on the Huberman Labs podcast. “I have to channel Mark as an optimist whenever I’m waiting for him.”
Chan was accepted into medical school at the University of California in 2008 and graduated with her MD in 2012. She completed her residency in 2015 and became a pediatrician at San Francisco General Hospital, where she worked until 2017. Chan has admitted she loved helping her patients and misses the day-to-day of practicing medicine.
She left her job to focus full time on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative where she has “an opportunity to build something that’s a lot bigger, that could solve a lot of the problems that I was frustrated by.”
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Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan’s wedding
Chan and Zuckerberg were married in an impromptu backyard ceremony at their Palo Alto home on May 19, 2012.
Zuckerberg proposed with a “simple” ruby ring that he designed himself. According to a The Daily Mail story, the ring is estimated to be worth around $25,000 and the story included the detail that rubies have special significance in Asian cultures and are considered to represent passion, love, and wisdom.
On the menu at their backyard event were some of the couple’s favorite foods, including Mexican and sushi, as well as chocolate mice from Burdick Chocolate, which the couple had enjoyed on their very first date.
The day before the wedding, on May 18, 2012, Facebook went public, raising $16 billion. This made it the largest tech IPO in history at the time, and Zuckerberg became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. He was just 28 years old; Chan was 27.
Zuckerberg also changed his relationship status on Facebook to “married.”
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How many kids do Mark Zuckerberg and Pricilla Chan have?
Zuckerberg announced Chan’s pregnancy in a Facebook post in July 2015. The couple shared their struggles conceiving along with the heartbreak of three miscarriages. The post received wide support for helping to destigmatize the subject, and Zuckerberg and Chan have expressed their hope that sharing their story could inspire others.
They have three daughters together:
Maxima was born in December 2015August, born August 2017Aurelia born in March 2023
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What is Priscilla Chan doing now?
As Co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), Chan handles the day-to-day management of the business, with a special focus on strategy and content. She believes the skillsets she acquired as a doctor have helped her in business, particularly “talking to people and understanding what their motivations are.”
The couple meets on Thursday afternoons for a “one-on-one” to establish the organization’s weekly goals. Zuckerberg typically comes into the office on Friday mornings.
CZI’s grants have funded housing affordability and educational equity projects, and research on rare diseases and cellular behaviors, to name a few.
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