While many children of high-profile figures grow up surrounded by extraordinary luxury, a growing list of rich listers are choosing to cut off the gravy train.
From Hollywood actors and rock stars to tech moguls and celebrity chefs, these famous parents are publicly declaring their children will not be inheriting their vast empires.
Instead, they insist their offspring will have to earn their own keep, choosing to donate billions to charity or spend their fortunes during their lifetimes.
Here is how the world’s richest stars are cutting off their kids and the eye-watering property portfolios they will be leaving behind.
SHAQUILLE O’NEAL
Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal has made it crystal clear to his six children that his estimated $500m ($A720m) fortune is off limits.
“My kids are older now. They’re kinda upset with me. Not really upset, but they don’t understand,” O’Neal told Business Insider in 2021.
“I tell them all the time: ‘We ain’t rich. I’m rich.’”
The NBA icon insists his children must obtain a bachelor’s or master’s degree before he even considers investing in their business ideas.
“If you want me to invest in one of your companies, you’re going to have to present it … bring it to me,” he said. “I’ll let you know, I’m not giving you nothing.”
O’Neal’s real estate footprint spans multiple US states, including homes in Texas, Georgia, and Nevada.
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Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal has made it crystal clear to his six children that his estimated $500m fortune is off limits. Picture: Francois Nel/Getty Images
NIGELLA LAWSON
Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson is fiercely opposed to passing down unearned wealth, admitting she is determined to leave her children, Cosima and Bruno Diamond financially self-reliant.
“I am determined that my children should have no financial security,” Lawson told the Guardian in 2008.
The TV star thinks that leaving her children money when she’s gone will do more harm than good.
Lawson’s property holdings are kept strictly private. Her primary home is a £5m ($A9.8m) converted stable mews house in London’s exclusive Chelsea.
She acquired the private mews residence following her high-profile 2013 split from art tycoon Charles Saatchi, with whom she previously shared a £12m ($A23.5m) Chelsea mansion.
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Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson admitted she is determined to leave her children financially self-reliant. Picture: James Gourley/Getty Images
JACKIE CHAN
Martial arts icon Jackie Chan announced he will not be leaving a single cent of his reported $US400m ($A575m) fortune to his son Jaycee.
Instead, the Rush Hour star revealed the bulk of his wealth will be directed to charitable causes upon his death.
“If he is capable, he can make his own money,” Chan said. “If he is not, then he will just be wasting my money.”
Chan’s international property portfolio spans Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beverly Hills.
In 2020, the action star hit the headlines when two of his luxury Beijing apartments were forced into a court-ordered auction following an ownership dispute with a developer.
The properties, valued at $US14.6m ($A22m), were listed with opening bids starting at $US10.5m ($A15.8m).
Martial arts icon Jackie Chan announced he will not be leaving a single cent of his fortune to his son Jaycee. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images
GORDON RAMSAY
Famous hothead Gordon Ramsay and his wife Tana might share a fortune estimated at over $A300m, but their children Matilda, Jack, Holly, Megan, Oscar and Jesse won’t be living off it.
“It’s definitely not going to them, and that’s not in a mean way; it’s to not spoil them,” the Kitchen Nightmares host said.
“The only thing I’ve agreed with Tana is they get a 25 per cent deposit on a flat, but not the whole flat.”
Ramsay even famously enforces the rule on holiday, flying first class with his wife while the kids sit in economy.
Ramsay holds a global real estate portfolio worth well over £25m ($A49m).
His primary base is a historic Victorian townhouse in London’s Wandsworth, valued at over £7m ($A13.7m).
In Cornwall, Ramsay sparked a fierce local planning battle to demolish a 1920s home in Rock, replacing it with a £14m ($A27.4m) glass-and-timber mega-mansion.
Gordon Ramsay’s children won’t be living off his fortune. Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for The NTA’s
STING
Rock legend Sting insists his six children — Joe, Eliot, Giacomo, Jake, Mickey, and Fuchsia — will not be relying on trust funds.
“I told them there won’t be much money left because we are spending it!” the former Police frontman said. “What comes in we spend, and there isn’t much left.”
Sting, who has an estimated fortune of $US550m ($A830m), added that he refuses to saddle his children with unearned cash.
“I certainly don’t want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks,” he said.
“They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything.”
Sting’s real estate collection is legendary. It includes Il Palagio, a 242ha 16th-century Tuscan estate purchased for $23m that functions as a working vineyard and luxury retreat.
He also owns the historic 323ha Lake House manor in Wiltshire, England, where he wrote Fields Of Gold, and a beachfront Malibu compound that commands an eye-watering $440,000 a month on the rental market.
Rock legend Sting insists his six children will not be relying on trust funds. Picture: Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images
BILL GATES
Tech pioneer Bill Gates and former wife Melinda French Gates made a name for themselves through massive philanthropic pledges, but that charity does not extend to their children Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe.
While the Microsoft founder paid for their education, he insists they must forge their own careers.
“It’s not a favour to kids to have them have huge sums of wealth,” Gates explained. “It distorts anything they might do, creating their own path.”
Gates has spent more than $US150m ($A225m) on private residences over the past three decades.
His primary estate, Xanadu 2.0 in Medina, Washington, is now believed to be worth an eye-watering $US130 million ($A207 million).
The businessman purchased the expansive property in 1988 for just $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.
Gates is also the 42nd largest landowner in the US, holding roughly 242,000 acres of farmland across Louisiana, Arkansas, and Arizona.
Tech pioneer Bill Gates paid for his children; s education, but insists they must forge their own careers.
LAURENE POWELL JOBS
Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, revealed her family’s massive fortune will end with her.
Managing an empire valued at over $US20 billion ($A30 billion), Powell Jobs confirmed her children fully understand her stance.
“I inherited my wealth from my husband, who didn’t care about the accumulation of wealth,” she said.
“I’m not interested in legacy wealth building, and my children know that. If I live long enough, it ends with me.”
Powell Jobs has built a staggering coastal and urban compound portfolio.
In Malibu’s Paradise Cove, she assembled an oceanfront mega-compound worth over $US172m ($A259m) across four adjacent parcels.
In 2024, she added a historic 1580sq m Spanish Renaissance Revival mansion on San Francisco’s “Billionaires’ Row” for a staggering $US70m ($A105m).
Laurene Powell Jobs revealed her family’s massive fortune will end with her. Picture: Jemal Countess/Getty Images for TIME
SIMON COWELL
Music mogul Simon Cowell has no interest in passing his estimated £350m ($A687m) fortune down through family generations.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge confirmed the bulk of his estate will go to children’s and animal welfare charities rather than his son Eric.
“I’m going to leave my money to somebody. A charity, probably — kids and dogs,” Cowell said. “I don’t believe in passing on from one generation to another.”
Cowell’s current real estate focus centres on high-security luxury retreats.
In California, he owns a sprawling 930sq m single-level Malibu compound purchased for $US24m ($A36m).
In the UK, he assembled a £15m ($A29.4m) Cotswolds country estate by combining four adjacent properties. The move came after he fled central London over security concerns.
Music mogul Simon Cowell has no interest in passing his fortune down through family generations. Picture: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images
MARK ZUCKERBERG
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan pledged to give away 99 per cent of their Facebook shares to charity.
The couple confirmed they will not be setting up trust funds for their daughters Maxima, August and Aurelia.
In an open letter to their children, the couple confirmed their wealth would go toward global social advancement via the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
“We want you to grow up in a world better than ours today,” they wrote. “We will give 99% of our Facebook shares during our lives to advance this mission.”
Zuckerberg’s vast real estate portfolio includes a $US270m ($A405m) compound on Kauai, Hawaii.
Known as Koʻolau Ranch, the 1200-acre estate reportedly features an underground bunker.
He also holds a $US170m ($A255m) waterfront estate on Miami’s Indian Creek Island, five homes in Palo Alto, and the 19th-century Strancally Castle in County Waterford, Ireland.
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan pledged to give away 99 per cent of their Facebook shares to charity. Picture: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
AKON
R & B icon and entrepreneur Akon told VIBE in 2022 that he refuses to leave his kids wealth they haven’t earned, warning that unearned fortunes lead to entitlement.
“My responsibility is to make sure they grow up responsible and strong,” Akon said.
“While I’m taking care of my responsibility to make sure the family has a roof over their head and food … I will do that. But they have to earn their own.”
Akon has maintained full-time residency in Dubai for more than a decade, but holds a history of famous US properties.
His former 13.2-acre gated estate in Sandy Springs, Georgia, hit the headlines after being featured on MTV Cribs.
Spanning 1390sq m, the property included indoor and outdoor pools, a private par-3 golf course, a racquetball court, and a private Chevron-branded gas pump on site.
R & B icon and entrepreneur Akon refuses to leave his kids wealth they haven’t earned, warning that unearned fortunes lead to entitlement. Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
DANIEL CRAIG
James Bond actor Daniel Craig labelled the concept of inheritance “distasteful”, confirming his kids will not be inheriting his millions.
Speaking to Saga Magazine, the 007 star stated his ultimate goal is to spend or donate his fortune before he dies.
“I think inheritance is quite distasteful,” Craig said. “My philosophy is to get rid of it or give it away before you go.”
Craig and his wife, actor Rachel Weisz, maintain a 1840s Victorian terraced mansion in London’s Primrose Hill, purchased for £3.3m ($A6.5m).
Upstate in New York, Craig also owns a 124-acre Ulster County estate featuring a historic 1785 Colonial stone house, acquired in 2008 for $US2.1m ($A3.1m).
James Bond actor Daniel Craig labelled the concept of inheritance “distasteful”, confirming his kids will not be inheriting his millions. Picture: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Hollywood couple Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis won’t be setting up trust funds for their children Picture: David Livingston/Getty Images
ASHTON KUTCHER AND MILA KUNIS
Hollywood couple Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis won’t be setting up trust funds for their children, Wyatt and Dimitri.
Speaking on the Armchair Expert podcast in 2018, Kutcher revealed that their kids are living a privileged life they don’t even realise yet.
“We’ll end up giving our money away to charity and to various things,” Kutcher explained.
However, Kutcher offered one caveat: “If my kids want to start a business, and they have a good business plan, I’ll invest in it … but they’re not getting trusts.”
The couple reside in “KuKu Farms”, a custom sustainable 6-acre modern farmhouse in Beverly Hills’ guard-gated Bella Vista Estates.
They also hold a beachfront compound in Carpinteria, California, purchased for $10.1m ($A15.1m), which recently underwent a major top-to-bottom rebuild following coastal storms.
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