MacKenzie Scott, billionaire and Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife, files for divorce with science teacher

In 2019, Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos and novelist-philanthropist MacKenzie Scott called it quits after 25 years of marriage, resulting in the world’s most expensive divorce with Scott getting over $38 billion. Since then, she went on to marry high school science teacher Dan Jewett last year. 

Now, roughly over a year and a half since the marriage, Scott has filed for divorce with her second husband. As per the court records, Jewett did not contest the divorce as the division of the property was already agreed in a pre-nuptial agreement.

While the reasons behind the divorce haven’t been made public yet, business observers saw the divorce coming given how Scott had removed Jewett’s name from her charity ventures last week. Additionally, her author bios on platforms like Amazon have also removed any mention of Jewett. 

A romantic and a philanthropic partnership: For some much-needed context, Scott and Jewett’s marriage didn’t just include a romantic relationship but also a philanthropic one with Jewett agreeing to donate the couple’s wealth holdings for charitable causes (even though the teacher wouldn’t obviously have as much personal wealth as his now-ex). 

As for Scott, she has been donating money to non-profits at an exceedingly high rate as compared to other uber-rich peers. According to The New York Times, Scott has shelled out over $12 billion to 1,257 organisations ever since she promised to give away her entire fortune in 2019. 

Her 2019 letter for Giving Pledge (the online platform where billionaires promise to give away half of their earnings before they die) states that she would continue her charitable endeavours “until the safe is empty”. 

Interestingly, Jewett had also written a letter in 2021, “I am…joining her [Scott] in a commitment to pass on enormous financial wealth to serve others.” The letter which was placed next to Scott’s letter on the Giving Pledge website, is now deleted. 

How did Scott and Jewett meet in the first place? While the now-estranged couple didn’t get too explicit about their first meeting, it is easy to see how they got acquainted for the first time. 

Jewett taught science at Lakeside, the prestigious private school in Seattle that Jeff Bezos and Scott’s children attended. During Jewett's tenure at the school, he garnered a positive reputation among students and teachers alike. 

After marrying MacKenzie Scott, Jewett gave up his teaching position citing his presence on campus to be a distraction. 

What now? Scott often prefers to keep a low-profile and even the removal of Jewett's name from her online presence has been done without much noise. The divorce ruling states that both ex-partners would continue living in King County in Washington State. 

Scott’s philanthropic ventures would probably continue at the same pace as the last three years. As for her writing career, a new book seems unlikely as her last book Traps was published back in 2013. The one that came before it, her 2005 debut, The Testing of Luther Albright, was the highlight of her literary career. An English graduate from Princeton, Scott studied under American literature titan Toni Morrison even assisting in research for Morrison’s 1992 novel, Jazz.

As for her current donations, observers are often split on her approach. On the one hand, some praise her for her under-the-radar donations that take the focus away from the “giver” and towards the cause instead. However, her Medium post from 2021 garnered controversy after she stated that she would not reveal how much money she gives to whom. This August, she responded by saying that she is currently working with a team of advisors to build a more transparent website to share her donation details.