{"id":199555,"date":"2019-04-03T15:26:47","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T20:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=199555"},"modified":"2019-04-04T00:15:38","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T05:15:38","slug":"richest-man-world-born-teenage-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/richest-man-world-born-teenage-mother\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, was born to a teen mom"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Many know about the story of how Apple founder Steve Jobs was born to an unwed college student<\/a> and was placed with an adoptive family. But not many know the story of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who, though\u00a0now a household name, also came from less than glamorous beginnings. Bezos’ mother was a teenager when she got pregnant, and had she been pushed to have an abortion<\/a>, none of the things Bezos has built and accomplished would exist. Bezos left a lucrative job on Wall Street to found Amazon — a decision that made him the richest man in the world.<\/p>\n

In 1964, Jacklyn Gise, just 16 years old, got pregnant. Her boyfriend, 18-year-old Ted Jorgensen, owned a bike shop, and the two flew to Mexico together to get married. But they quickly divorced, and Bezos, originally named Jeff Jorgensen, said in an interview<\/a> that he never even met his biological father.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gise had to battle the forces that worked against high school students who face teenage pregnancies — except that she, unlike many other teenage mothers, had the support of her parents. Bezos credits his family<\/a> for this support, which continued into his childhood, and which he says gave him the ability to take the risks he has.<\/p>\n

“My mom had me when she was 17 years old, and she was still in high school, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and this is in 1964. I can assure you that being a pregnant teenager in high school was not cool in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at that time. And so it was very difficult for her,” Bezos said in an interview with CNBC. “My grandfather went to bat for her, and then they tried to kick her out of school, and they’re incredible, so the gift I had was I that had this incredible family.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Steve Jobs on how his mom chose life: \u2018I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t end up as an abortion\u2019<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I won the lottery with my mom. Thanks for literally everything, Mom. pic.twitter.com\/gEuVgxotdw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) May 14, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n