Is Larry Ellison Married? A Look at His Relationship History

Larry Ellison is an American billionaire best known as the co-founder and longtime CEO of Oracle Corporation. Alongside his public business career, his personal life has attracted attention. Over the past several decades, he has entered into six marriages or equivalent long-term partnerships, often coinciding with different phases of his life and work. This article traces his relationship history in chronological order, from his first marriage in the 1960s through his current marriage as of 2025.

Early Life and First Marriage (1967-1974)

Ellison grew up in the Chicago area and moved to California in the mid-1960s to begin a career as a computer programmer. In 1967, at age 23, he married his first wife, Adda Quinn. This seven-year marriage (1967-1974) came before Ellison had founded Oracle. The couple lived through Ellison’s early career struggles.

Adda Quinn later described their time together as like being on a roller coaster, and financial strain was a factor in their split. The marriage ended in divorce in 1974. Ellison had been building technology companies throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, culminating in the founding of Software Development Laboratories, the precursor to Oracle, in 1977.

Second Marriage (1977-1978)

His second marriage was brief. In 1977, he married Nancy Wheeler (later Nancy Jenkins) just as he co-founded Oracle. The company quickly gained ground in the database market. The union with Nancy Wheeler Jenkins lasted only about a year. They divorced in 1978, and by some accounts, she relinquished her stake in his early company back to him for only $500. By this point, Oracle, originally called Relational Software, Inc., was on its way to becoming a major software firm.

Third Marriage: Barbara Boothe (1983-1986)

In 1983, Ellison and Barbara Boothe got married. She had worked as a secretary or receptionist at one of his companies. This was at a time when Oracle was growing rapidly. The company went public in 1986. They had two children together, a son, David, and a daughter, Megan, who would later become film producers in Hollywood. The marriage lasted three years.

By the summer of 1986, the couple divorced. According to one Ellison biographer, disagreements arose partly because he was intensely focused on Oracle’s success in its high-growth business phase. Ellison himself was reportedly mostly interested in being in charge of Oracle during that time. In any case, his marriage to Barbara Boothe ended in late 1986.

Fourth Marriage: Melanie Craft (2003-2010)

After his divorce from Boothe, he did not marry again until 2003. On December 18, 2003, he wed Melanie Craft, a romance novelist, at his private estate in Woodside, California. The wedding drew media attention. The ceremony was conducted by U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos and attended by Ellison’s friends, including Steve Jobs and his wife Laurene. This was his fourth marriage and Craft’s first. The couple had no children together. Despite the high-profile wedding, the marriage eventually ended in divorce. Ellison and Craft divorced in 2010 after about seven years of marriage. Notably, the marriage was reported to have been dissolved shortly after he finalized his divorce from Craft’s predecessor.

Long-Term Relationship with Nikita Kahn (2010-2020)

In 2010, shortly after his divorce from Melanie Craft, he began a publicly noted relationship with a younger woman, Ukrainian-born Nikita Kahn (born Iryna Osipova). Kahn is a model, actress, and animal rights activist. Various reports indicate that Ellison and Kahn were first linked in 2010, the year he turned 66, and Kahn was about 19 years old.

The pair were often seen together over the next decade. In fact, he named a luxury restaurant in Malibu after her in 2013. They were long-term partners, and according to California court records, he filed for divorce in 2019. This suggests that Ellison and Kahn were legally married at some point. Sources refer to Kahn as his fifth wife, and then they formally separated. The divorce was finalized in 2020.

Throughout their relationship, Ellison and Kahn mostly lived a low-profile life. There were no widely reported children from their union. Market reports had noted in 2020 that he and Kahn had been dating for around 11 years. By 2020, the long partnership had ended, and Kahn’s official tie to him was closed with the divorce.

Relationship with Jolin (Keren) Zhu (c. 2018-Present)

The most recent and current chapter of Ellison’s personal life involves Jolin Zhu, also known as Keren Zhu. Zhu is a Chinese-American woman who graduated from the University of Michigan in 2012. She first began appearing with Ellison in the press around 2017-2018, and by 2024, she was described in news reports as Ellison’s wife.

In late November 2024, a University of Michigan football booster group, Champions Circle, publicly thanked Larry and his wife Jolin for instrumental support in a major recruiting deal. This statement, widely reported in the media, effectively confirmed that Zhu was considered his spouse. The group’s announcement noted that Zhu is a Michigan alumna.

Neither he nor Zhu had formally announced their marriage, but their partnership became an open secret. U.S. public records show that he registered to vote at the same Florida address as Zhu in 2023, along with the divorce filing in 2019 from his previous wife. Media outlets now refer to Zhu as Ellison’s sixth wife. As of 2025, he is married to Jolin Zhu.

Final Remarks

In summary, Ellison’s relationship timeline is as follows. He married Adda Quinn, 1967-1974, and Nancy Wheeler Jenkins, 1977-1978, in his early years. Later, he married Barbara Boothe, 1983-1986, with whom he had two children, and then married Melanie Craft, 2003-2010. After 2010, he was partnered with Nikita Kahn (2010-2020) before beginning a relationship with Jolin Zhu around 2018, whom he married by 2023. In all, his personal life has included six prominent relationships, and as of 2025, he is partnered with Zhu.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Jolin Zhu?

• Also known as Keren Zhu.
• Graduated from the University of Michigan in 2012 with a degree in International Studies.
• Reports identify her as approximately 33 years old.
• Closely involved in Ellison’s recent investments in Michigan college football—particularly around NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals.

Was Jolin Zhu officially married to Ellison, and is there legal documentation?

There’s no publicly accessible legal documentation confirming the marriage. Both Ellison and Zhu have remained private on this matter. However, several indirect signals support the assumption:

• They share Florida and California addresses in voter registration records.
• The Michigan booster group’s public acknowledgment, calling them “Larry and his wife Jolin,” indicates a recognized partnership.

Thus, while not legally confirmed in the public domain, social and institutional references strongly suggest their marriage.

How significant is Jolin Zhu’s influence in Ellison’s personal and professional decisions?

She played a pivotal role in his involvement with Michigan sports, particularly in facilitating NIL funding for the football team’s high-profile quarterback recruit. Her ties to Michigan extend beyond his own affiliations, reflecting a shared interest. She stated: “I am a big fan of the University of Michigan and Michigan Athletics.” This suggests that her influence spans both personal and philanthropic dimensions of Ellison’s life.

What about Ellison’s children and their relationships with his former wives?

Ellison’s two children, David and Megan, were born during his marriage to Barbara Boothe (1983-1986). Both are active in the film industry. David, for instance, is associated with Skydance Media, while Megan is linked to Annapurna Pictures. Their bond with Ellison continues to be noted in public profiles, even as his marriages have changed over the years.

What are the Themes in Ellison’s relationship history

Stepping back from names and dates, a few recurring themes emerge in the coverage of Ellison’s romantic life:

• Privacy and control

He is known for controlling access and shaping narratives about his life. He tends to live publicly on his terms, for example, large, public purchases like island ownership, yachts, properties, but personal relationships that remain partly private until or unless he or his circle chooses to reveal them. The recent emergence of Jolin Zhu into the reporting spotlight is an example of how private relationships can become public when they intersect with major philanthropy or institutional interests.

• Age gaps and partner profiles

Across multiple partnerships, reports note substantial age differences. Many of his partners were younger and came from non-corporate backgrounds, models, novelists, and people with ties outside of tech. That pattern has been widely commented upon in the press.

• Family legacy through children

While his marriages have come and gone, his children, David and Megan, remain visible public figures. Not to mention, his family influence extends into industries like film, where his wealth and connections have had an impact. Their careers are a lasting public dimension of Ellison’s personal life.

Why have Ellison’s relationships drawn public interest?

Several factors contribute to public and media curiosity:

• His status as one of the world’s richest individuals and his global influence through Oracle.
• A pattern of multiple marriages over time, including high-profile ceremonies involving figures like Steve Jobs.
• Significant age differences in relationships, particularly with Nikita Kahn and Jolin Zhu, have attracted media attention.
• Jolin Zhu’s association with collegiate sports investments intersects business, philanthropy, and personal life.

All these elements create a wide public fascination with Ellison’s personal life, alongside his professional accomplishments.

Are there any children from Ellison’s later relationships?

No public records indicate any children from Ellison’s marriages after his union with Barbara Boothe. His only known children are David and Megan, from the 1983-1986 marriage.

Why the confusion over how many times Ellison has been married?

If you’ve seen different numbers, four, five, six marriages,  you’re not alone. Variations come from a mix of reasons:

• Public versus private relationships

Ellison has had long-term partnerships that some outlets characterize as marital in effect, even when the legal paperwork is not publicly disclosed. That can produce divergent counts in reporting.

• Record availability

Early marriages (and the documentation or reporting around them) sometimes predate Ellison’s fame; the details weren’t fully chronicled in the nationwide press at the time, and later retrospectives collect the fragments. Wikipedia’s assembled timeline aggregates many of those fragments into a single list.

• Tabloid reporting and shorthand headlines

Media outlets, especially lifestyle pages and tabloids, often simplify or use shorthand in headlines. “Ellison marries again,”  which can obscure nuanced legal facts about separations and finalized divorces.

What the records don’t and do tell us

A few clarifications about the limits of public knowledge:

• Legal paperwork versus public perception

For some relationships, the exact legal status is not always accessible to the public. Reporters, as a result, often rely on institutional acknowledgements or local filings. That can cause ambiguity about whether a relationship is officially a marriage.

In the case of Jolin Zhu, for example, her identification as Ellison’s wife arose from how public donations were acknowledged and from reporting that connected their shared addresses and public appearances. It’s not necessarily from a single public marriage license filing made visible to the press.

• Conflicting or incomplete timelines

Some earlier relationships predate extensive digital archives. Biographers and reference works have pieced together timelines from interviews, court filings, and reporting, but gaps remain. Wikipedia’s Personal life section is useful as a compiled reference. It draws from multiple sources, but like any secondary aggregation, it inherits the messiness of the primary reporting it relies on. Always treat any single source as part of a mosaic.

• The man he is versus the headlines

Ellison’s public persona as a billionaire yachtsman, tech titan, collector of samurai swords and yachts, can do with simple narratives about his personal life. Headlines often focus on the flashiest details, such as age gaps, island purchases, and celebrity guests at parties, rather than the personal dimensions people like Ellison hold private. That’s true for many billionaires, and Ellison exemplifies it: large public gestures, private intimate life.