The Website of Dr. Mark Goulston

The key to marrying a billionaire, according to the media, is beauty. Grace, charm, intelligence, manners and a talent for flattery help, of course. Yet from Doris Duke to Melania Trump, billionaire wives have been expected first and foremost to be stunners — well-decorated accessories and showcases for their husband’s wealth.

Susan Dell (via fitness.gov)

But today’s billionaires are different. They want an equal, not a bauble.
Forbes’ most-recent Billionaire Wives List declares that “looks are great — but brains are even better.” It also helps for a billionaire wife to be successful in her own right.

Here are some examples:

Sergey Brin — In 2007, the Google guy married Ann Wojcicki, who he met when he sublet a garage from Ms. Wojcicki’s sister. She is a Yale grad who was working as a health-care analyst when they met. She’s now launched her own biotech firm.

Larry Page — The other Google guy married Lucy Southworth, a Stanford “biomedical informatics doctoral student” — which sure beats “interior decorator” as far as billionaire-wife job titles go.

Kenneth Griffin — The Citadel hedge-fund chief is married to Anne Dias Griffin, who runs her own asset-management firm, Aragon Global Management. This is proof that the key to a good financial marriage — unlike the key to a good hedge fund — is high correlations.

Michael Dell — The computer king’s wife, Susan Dell, is no slouch in the business department. She’s chairman of her own fashion line, called Phi, and a triathlete.

How about it, readers? Any other Billionaire Wives who demonstrate that “equal” is better than “bauble”?