Tragic Details About Elizabeth Holmes

The list of high-profile names serving time in prison seems to grow each year, and the headlines become more and more sensational. Whether it's Khloé Kardashian's short stint in jail, the 12-year prison sentence Todd Chrisley was slapped with, or even Martha Stewart's harrowing time behind bars, the message is clear: fame isn't an antidote to breaking the law. It's a lesson Elizabeth Holmes learned first-hand after becoming the youngest self-made billionaire in America.

Holmes founded Theranos in 2003, promising to revolutionize healthcare by using a single drop of blood to carry out hundreds of tests. The company rocketed to a $9 billion valuation in 2014, but its bubble popped when a 2015 Wall Street Journal investigation revealed all of the shortcomings it was concealing. Holmes faced 12 counts of fraud (she pleaded not guilty) for allegedly embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars from investors and patients alike. Ultimately, Holmes was hit with a guilty verdict and was convicted of 1 count of conspiracy and 3 counts of wire fraud in 2022. She turned herself in to prison on May 30, 2023 to serve 11 years and 3 months (since shortened to 9 years) and officially became inmate 24965-111.

However, despite all of the headlines she's made, there's still plenty you don't know about Elizabeth Holmes, including numerous tragic aspects of her life. While some of these hardships are, admittedly, the consequences of her own actions, others aren't. Here are the tragic details of Elizabeth Holmes.

Elizabeth Holmes was pressured to succeed from a very young age, according to Richard Fuisz, M.D. The psychiatrist and inventor lived next to Holmes and her parents, Christian and Noel Holmes, for most of her childhood and, as he told Forbes in 2019, she was always expected to be the best. Perhaps as a result, Elizabeth kept her emotions hidden and, as Dr. Fuisz noted, "In the pictures I have with our family, she is withdrawn."

Indeed, it seems Elizabeth simply went along with all of her parents' wishes. "I was a physician who had many patents and made money off of them and knew Arabic," Dr. Fuisz told the outlet, claiming that the Holmeses were jealous of his success. "Noel programmed Elizabeth to be like me, invent and learn a language." As part of her plan, Noel decided her daughter had to attend Stanford University, but her grades weren't strong enough. To up her chances of admittance, Elizabeth, who had just graduated high school, was reportedly forced to learn Mandarin during a summer program at Stanford –- even though she hated it. "Elizabeth would call the house from China crying," Dr. Fuisz recalled, saying she wanted to come home but her parents forbade her.

This control continued well into Elizabeth's later years, per Dr. Fuisz. Apparently, Elizabeth's dad used his own connections to get her in front of venture capitalist Donald L. Lucas so he could help Elizabeth jumpstart the career her parents had essentially chosen for her.

Elizabeth Holmes did ultimately get accepted into Stanford University, but she dropped out during her sophomore year to focus on Theranos. As she would later reveal during her 2021 criminal fraud trial, per CNN, her decision was actually spurred by an awful on-campus incident. Holding back tears, Elizabeth said that, in October 2003, at age 19, she had been sexually assaulted at the Sigma Chi fraternity house and, while trying to deal with the trauma, she chose to dive into work. "I decided that I was going to build a life by building this company," she said.

Around the same time, she began a new relationship, which was supposed to help her heal, but soon proved abusive. While studying in China, an 18-year-old Holmes met Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani who was 19 years her senior. After she launched Theranos, he joined the team (going on to become COO) and the pair began dating. "He said I was safe now that I had met him," Holmes told the court, per NPR. Instead, she said he began to abuse her, both verbally and physically. Balwani would reportedly mock her business decisions, control what she ate, and even criticize how she looked. What's more, she alleged, "He would sometimes come upstairs to our bedroom and he would force me to have sex with him."

Holmes also said she was manipulated into blindly believing everything Balwani told her about Theranos' operations. It wasn't until the company began to unravel in 2015 and Balwani's lies emerged in 2016 that she walked away from him.

Back in 2005, when Theranos was just taking off, Elizabeth Holmes hired Cambridge University alum Ian Gibbons as her chief scientist. He had spent three decades in the medical field and was passionate about Theranos' product, even when he began to uncover its shortcomings. As Gibbons found mounting issues with the technology, he set out to fix them, but it wasn't always possible to do so quickly. Rather than being transparent with investors and customers, Theranos was moving full steam ahead and, in 2013, was ready to start offering its test at Walgreens as part of a $140 million deal.

According to Ian's wife, Rochelle Gibbons, the company was trying to silence its top scientist. "Ian was a real obstacle for Elizabeth," Rochelle told Vanity Fair, alleging, "They kept him around to keep him quiet." Then, in 2013, Theranos allegedly decided it no longer wanted him involved in any way. That May, Holmes' assistant called Ian at home to schedule a meeting with him for the following day. Both Rochelle and her husband were sure he was about to be fired and, as she told the magazine, that fear combined with his cancer diagnosis pushed him over the edge. Gibbons overdosed on acetaminophen that very night and died 8 days later.

No one will ever know what that meeting was actually supposed to be about, but Rochelle placed her husband's death squarely on Holmes, arguing Gibbons would still be alive if he had never worked for Theranos (via CBS News).

Elizabeth Holmes called it quits with Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani in 2016, but the couple's problems were far from over. Following The Wall Street Journal's explosive 2015 investigation into Theranos, Holmes and Balwani were accused of defrauding investors, doctors, and patients and were both indicted in 2018 on criminal charges.

While all of this was happening, though, Holmes met Billy Evans at a 2017 Fleet Week charity event. Evans, who has an Economics degree from MIT and works at capital investment firm Stealth Startup as of the time of writing, was smitten despite the courtroom drama. "Everyone tried to break us, but instead we forged an unbreakable bond," he told People in a 2025 interview. "She's my best friend and soulmate." Following a whirlwind courtship, the pair got engaged in 2018, but even Holmes was skeptical. "I asked him 20 times if he wanted to spend his life with me," she recalled. "There were a million reasons why not."

They pushed forward and, in July 2021, welcomed their first child, William. The birth actually pushed the start of Holmes' trial (slated for that month) to August and caused some to wonder if it was a calculated move. Indeed, upon learning the news of her pregnancy that March, the prosecution was openly frustrated. As federal defense attorney Caroline Polisi explained to ABC News, "Not only is that going to help her in her trial, but it will really help her in the event that she is convicted."

Following the 2021 birth of her son, William, Elizabeth Holmes soon became pregnant again. In February 2023, her defense team revealed that she had welcomed a second child, a daughter named Invicta, and argued that she should be allowed to remain outside of prison while appealing her sentence. Prior to that, Holmes' partner, Billy Evans, had also used their young family as an argument, asking the sentencing judge to be lenient so she wouldn't be away from their kids for too long. Ultimately, their pleas did little other than push the start of Holmes' 11-year sentence, meant to begin that April, by a month to May 2023.

Speaking with People in 2025, Holmes shut down rumors that she had gotten pregnant on purpose to help her case. "I know how the optics look, but I always wanted to be a mother," she assured. "It wasn't planned and I can't worry about what others think." Holmes also added that her lawyers told her she wouldn't have to worry about being found guilty and sent to jail, which gave her added confidence to start a family. "It was such a beautiful experience in such a horrible time," she continued.

And while there was no time to get married, she told People how she and Evans actually bought a pair of rings on Amazon and exchanged them before she reported to prison. Even so, she mused, "Maybe we'll get married someday, but our bond is more than a piece of paper."

Elizabeth Holmes turned herself in to begin serving her 11-year prison sentence (which has since been reduced to 9 years due to good behavior) on May 30, 2023. When she arrived at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, a minimum-security prison located 100 miles from Houston, her daughter, Invicta, was just three months old. As People learned, Holmes had one wish to help make the painful goodbye a little bit easier: to be able to provide her baby girl with breast milk. After asking authorities at the facility if she could bring breast pumps in with her, she was allowed two and could collect and freeze milk for her partner to collect during visits. "I wanted my daughter to have her mother's milk," she explained. " It was important to me because it was a way to love her in here."

Holmes was so committed to the cause that she actually spoke to the warden about the need for dedicated lactation rooms, which would allow inmates to breastfeed privately. That same year, the facility conceded and granted her wish, building several such spaces inside the housing units.

While it's true that Elizabeth Holmes has been convicted of multiple crimes, her young children have unfortunately been bearing much of the punishment as well. The disgraced CEO, who was housed at Federal Prison Camp Bryan since May 2023, is allowed to receive two family visits per week at the time of this publication. The rest of the time, her kids are far away from her, growing up without really knowing their mother. Not to mention they will spend nearly a decade of their most formative years regularly visiting a place that's not meant for kids.

In a 2025 interview with People, Holmes opened up about the difficulties of having such limited time with 3-year-old William and 2-year-old Invicta. After playing with LEGOs and telling their mom about their latest passions, including insects, they're soon whisked away. "[It] shatters my world every single time," Holmes said of having to say goodbye. However, it's not just painful for her, it also impacts her kiddos deeply. "The people I love the most have to walk away as I stand here, a prisoner, and my reality sinks in," she shared. "It kills me to put my family through pain the way I do."

Elizabeth Holmes and her family have had to contend with the idea of celebrating a long list of milestones within the prison yard of Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas. They got their first taste of just that in February 2024 when Holmes, who was only 9 months into her sentence at the time, rang in her 40th birthday at the facility. However, unlike Diddy's 55th birthday from behind bars, which was spent alone, Holmes was able to see and hold her loved ones. The DailyMail snapped images of the celebration, which included lots of hugs and lunch at a picnic table outside. In addition to her partner, Billy Evans, Holmes also had the opportunity to spend time with her parents and a few friends. According to the outlet, the group visited on two consecutive days over the weekend, which allowed the disgraced mogul to play with her little ones and enjoy some sweet moments with Evans before saying goodbye yet again.

Opening up to People in 2025, Holmes admitted, "It pains me that I am behind bars and I'm not there for all the moments that matter in their life." And yet, she wouldn't change a thing because she'd always wanted a big family of her own. "People can think what they'd like about me, but it just happened and it's the happiest moments in my life," she mused. "I love them."

In addition to being tried in a court of law, Elizabeth Holmes has also had to face the court of public opinion. "It's surreal," she told People in 2025. "People who have never met me believe so strongly about me." Holmes said she's been greatly misunderstood and was adamant that the truth about her would come out one day. And while Holmes and Jen Shah became fast friends behind bars, the realities of incarceration are anything but light. "It's been hell and torture to be here," she confessed. "Human beings are not made to be in cells."

A typical prison day for Holmes started at 5:00 in the morning with breakfast and a 40-minute workout. She then headed to work, which included teaching French and helping fellow female inmates petition for early release. The bulk of her time has been spent as a re-entry clerk working with inmates whose sentences were nearly up. Holmes has helped them write resumes, apply for benefits, and more, earning 31 cents per hour for her efforts. Then there's lunch and dinner, as well as some free time to read and call her family.

Perhaps hardest of all, though, have been her weekly psychiatrist appointments where she's been working through the PTSD she claims was caused by a sexual assault at Stanford and her relationship with Ramesh Balwani. "I wish that I left, or I had seen the abuse or understood it — and why I didn't — and I'm finding peace with that," she revealed.