Meet Bill and Melinda Gates' Gen Z daughter Phoebe, a Stanford graduate and activist who's dating Paul McCartney's grandson

Phoebe Gates is the youngest daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates.

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, who married in 1994 and divorced in 2021, have three children: Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 21. The children all went to Seattle's Lakeside School, a private high school their father also attended, and are now on different trajectories.

Jennifer is a decorated equestrian who just graduated from medical school, while Rory is a congressional analyst, according to a 2023 Puck report. While her brother stays out of the spotlight, Phoebe is sharing her life online, and has ambitions in the fashion industry.

The three Gates children will inherit at least some of their parents' wealth: Bill Gates has said he plans to leave them "only" $10 million each.

"I definitely think leaving kids massive amounts of money is not a favor to them," Gates said in a 2013 Reddit "Ask Me Anything." "Warren Buffett was part of an article in Fortune talking about this in 1986 before I met him, and it made me think about it and decide he was right."

Today, nearly five decades after cofounding Microsoft, Bill Gates has a fortune of about $134 billion, according to Forbes. He left Microsoft's board in 2020 — although is still reportedly "intimately involved" at the company — and has remained focused on the Gates Foundation, which he once ran with French Gates. She also became a billionaire following their divorce.

 

She shares glimpses of her parents on her social media pages, which have accumulated hundreds of thousands of followers.

As of June 2024, Phoebe Gates has 424,000 followers on Instagram and 244,000 followers on TikTok.

A day after posting a video of her sharing bubble tea with her dad in October 2023, she gained over 59,000 TikTok followers, according to analytics website Social Blade.

"Father-daughter bubble tea time," read a caption under the TikTok post.

In the clip, which has received 16.7 million views on TikTok and uses "As It Was" by Harry Styles as a backing track, Phoebe sits opposite her billionaire father as they both poke straws into cups of bubble tea and smile at one another overlooking a Manhattan skyline.

Bill Gates has made appearances on other creators' TikTok accounts in the past, often participating in math or art challenges, although he does not have an account himself.

Gates just graduated from Stanford University, and she has previously vlogged about her college life.

In an interview with the sustainable fashion brand Reformation, which Gates promoted on her Instagram page in March 2023, the billionaire's daughter said she was majoring in human biology at Stanford University. 

She has previously showcased her dorm room and filmed vlog-style updates about her life at college. In one clip posted in December 2022, she filmed herself riding a bike to a stats class, later showing herself making a very student-esque pasta dish for dinner.

In June 2024, she graduated after just three years, Nylon reported. At the ceremony, her mom, Melinda Gates, gave the commencement speech.

Phoebe Gates blogged her day for Nylon, sharing that she celebrated the milestone with a party attended by her mom and dad.

"So grateful to have my parents by my side on this day," she wrote.

She is passionate about sustainable fashion and is pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities in the industry.

On TikTok, Gates has previously posted about attending fashion week in Copenhagen and New York. She has also shared informational clips about sustainable fashion and promoted buying secondhand clothes. 

According to Vogue, Gates is co-launching her own fashion platform, called Phia, with her fellow Stanford student and roommate Sophia Kianni (pictured above left). The outlet reported that it has already landed a partnership with fashion house Stella McCartney for a bag collection that will celebrate women in tennis.

Gates has become an outspoken social activist.

One of the topics Gates has frequently addressed on her TikTok page is reproductive health and advocating for abortion rights.

She has previously posted clips of herself speaking about access to contraception at events, including Goalkeepers, hosted by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In a video she shared in December, her mother asked her why she was an advocate for reproductive health.

"I think for me, coming for age in this country, our generation has been put in a spot where a lot of times we feel quite a bit powerless," Phoebe Gates said. "You know, not having the freedom to make choices about your own reproductive health, your own ... your very own body."

She also spoke out on TikTok against the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

In the summer of 2022, she also posted clips that she said were from a trip to Rwanda with the healthcare nonprofit Partners in Health, saying she learned about the country's healthcare system.

She appears to be following in her mom's footsteps, calling her an "inspiration."

The 21-year-old activist appears to be taking after her parents, especially her mother, who has advocated for access to birth control around the world for many years.

While Bill Gates appears in only a few of her TikToks, her mom has been featured much more prominently on her account. 

Phoebe Gates has posted several snippets on TikTok that show her discussing access to contraception with Melinda. 

"So you're a huge advocate for contraceptives. I mean, you've always hammered this into me since I was a child, about deciding for my body and having body autonomy," Phoebe Gates said in a clip posted in January 2023, where Melinda talked about the importance of access to family planning.

In an on-screen caption on a TikTok post from September 2022, Gates referred to her mother as her "inspiration." 

She is dating Paul McCartney's grandson, Arthur.

In her June 2024 graduation diary for Nylon, Gates shared photos of herself with her boyfriend, Arthur Donald. Alongside one of the images, she joked that he "cleans up nicely," while in another, he carried her on his back.

Donald, 25, is the oldest of Paul McCartney's eight grandchildren, People reported. He is the son of the Beatles' star's daughter Mary and her ex-husband, Alistair Donald.

He grew up in London and attended Yale University, according to People. He is an investor at the Collaborative Fund, a venture capital firm "for entrepreneurs pushing the world forward," according to its website.

Gates and Donald were also pictured together at the premiere of "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" held in New York City in January.