You might assume that the children of the rich and famous don't have to go to work – but not everyone wants their offspring to inherit a life of luxury. Read on to discover the famous names who won't be sharing all of their wealth with their kids, and why. All dollar values in US dollars. 

Aaron Spelling’s widow Candy holds the purse strings when it comes to her late TV producer husband’s $600 million (£460m) fortune. Their daughter, actor Tori Spelling, received a mere $800,000 (£455k) from Aaron’s estate when he died in 2006 and she is apparently in regular dispute with her mother, who’s intimated that she’s wary of her daughter overspending.

One-time billionaire Chuck Feeney, co-founder of the Duty-Free Shoppers group, transferred his wealth to his Atlantic Philanthropies foundation in the 1980s. Committed to a "giving while living" mantra, Feeney’s renowned for teaching his children the value of money by making them have holiday jobs and work their way through university. The reluctant billionaire declared that he’d officially reached his goal of going “broke” in September 2020, and now the 90-year-old and his wife Helga live in a relatively modest rented apartment in San Francisco.

Gene Simmons, who came from a poor immigrant family before making it big as a rocker in glam rock band KISS, said of his two kids: “Every day they should be forced to get up out of bed and go out and work and make their own way.” He's not lying, as his family all starred in reality TV show Gene Simmons Family Jewels over seven seasons.

James Bond star Daniel Craig has said "inheritance is quite distasteful" in a recent interview with Candis magazine. Craig has an adult daughter, Ella, from his first marriage to actor Fiona Loudon and a three-year-old daughter with current wife Rachel Weisz. "My philosophy is: get rid of it or give it away before you go," Craig said.

The Hong Kong-born actor and martial arts expert, who found fame in Hollywood, has two children – son Jaycee and daughter Etta Ng. He has his own charity, the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, and plans to give away his wealth. In 2011, he told Channel NewsAsia that “if my son is capable, he can make his own money. If he is not, then he will just be wasting my money.” Chan was estimated to be worth $40 million (£31.1m) last year by Forbes.

Gordon Ramsay’s no-nonsense attitude applies both in the kitchen and at home. The multimillionaire chef – worth $70 million (£54.4m) last year according to Forbes – revealed his kids fly in economy as “they haven’t worked hard enough to afford [first class]”. And when it comes to inheritance: “It’s definitely not going to them, not in a mean way; it's to not spoil them. The only thing I’ve agreed is they get a 25% deposit on a flat.” Ramsay thinks he’s been lucky in his career, and wants his kids to work hard in theirs. And it's already paying off, as Ramsay's daughter Matilda (pictured third from left) has already had her own children's cooking show Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch, which launched on UK children's TV channel CBBC in 2015 when she was only 14 years old.

Although he reportedly has an estimated $400 million (£290m) net worth to play around with, Canadian businessman, investor and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary says he won’t be leaving any of it to his children, so they have to acquire a work ethic. But he will ensure his children’s children and their kids can get an education thanks to a generation-skipping trust. The future looks bright for the O'Leary clan.

Sir Elton claims to owe his children – Elijah and Zachary – a lot for making him calm down his extravagant spending habits, but that doesn’t mean his estimated $463 million (£360m) fortune (according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2020) will be going into their bank accounts. The superstar told Mirror Online: "Of course I want to leave my boys in a very sound financial state, but it’s terrible to give kids a silver spoon.”

The founder and CEO of underwear company Spanx, Sara Blakely was the first woman to sign The Giving Pledge, where the super-rich pledge to give away most or all of their wealth during their lifetime, in 2013, and she committed to use the money to “invest in women”. She told her son that she would be donating the majority of her wealth, last estimated at $1.2 billion (£870m) by Forbes, to other people when he was just three years old. A toddler at the time, he didn’t seem too fazed, and just said: “Okay Mommy, can we do a puzzle now?”. Perhaps that conversation is better saved for when he’s hit kindergarten… 

Media magnate Ted Turner has signed The Giving Pledge. Turner wrote in his Giving Pledge letter: “At the time of my death, virtually all my wealth will have gone to charity.” It looks like his kids don't mind too much as his children are involved in the charitable Turner Foundation, which was set up in 1990. He also launched the United Nations Foundation. Turner is currently worth $2.3 billion (£1.7bn), according to Forbes.

Founder and CEO of Netflix Reed Hastings has enjoyed a boost to his net worth in the last year thanks to the streaming platform’s incredible success during the COVID-19 crisis. He and wife Patty Quillin had already signed up to The Giving Pledge in 2012, before Netflix really hit its stride and when his fortune was valued at around $280 million (£175m) – the streaming mogul is now worth $6.3 billion (£4.6bn). Either way, the majority of the Netflix fortune won’t be going to his two children, but instead will likely fund the education of other people’s children, as Hastings is a big advocate of reforming the American education system through charter schools, and spent time on the California State Board of Education. 

The producer-director and father of four committed to giving up most of his wealth in his Giving Pledge letter. He announced in 2012 that he would use the $4.05 billion (£2.5bn) made from selling the Star Wars franchise to Disney to fund education, which he believes “is the key to the survival of the human race”. Lucas is currently worth $7 billion (£5.1bn), while his charitable foundation has more than $1 billion (£730m) in assets.

Find out more about Bill Gates's Giving Pledge and who has signed it

Since becoming a billionaire at the tender age of 31, the French-born founder of internet giant eBay has donated a fortune to worthy causes – he has a philanthropic investment firm and he and his wife Pam have made a huge contribution to tackling human trafficking. His three children will only see a small proportion of his money as he too has signed up to The Giving Pledge. In his pledge letter Omidyar explained: “Our view is fairly simple. We have more money than our family will ever need. There’s no need to hold onto it when it can be put to use today, to help solve some of the world’s most intractable problems”. The eBay founder is currently worth $21.5 billion (£15.6bn).

Laurene Powell Jobs inherited billions when her husband Steve Jobs, one of the co-founders of Apple, died in 2011. Now worth $17 billion (£12.3bn), Powell Jobs (pictured with Apple's Tim Cook) has invested some of her fortune, buying stakes in several media outlets and in the organisation that owns the NBA's Washington Wizards and the NHL's Washington Capitals in 2017. She also set up a non-profit to help low-income students enter higher education, as well as a charitable foundation focused on social change called the Emerson Collective. However, her three children are not set to receive her fortune as the 57-year-old has declared that the family's billionaire status "ends with me".

MacKenzie Scott has four children with ex-husband Jeff Bezos, who is the richest person in the world. The couple’s high-profile divorce settlement was the most expensive ever made public at $35 billion (£26.4bn), and it made Scott the third-richest woman in the world. The Bezos children won’t necessarily be inheriting wealth from both parents however, as Scott quickly signed The Giving Pledge when she remarried in March after having donated almost $6 billion (£4.7bn) to good causes in 2020 alone. In her Giving Pledge statement, Scott said: “My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.” MacKenzie Scott is currently worth $57.9 billion (£42bn). 

The former mayor of New York made his $59 billion (£43bn) fortune from his eponymous media and financial data company. The father of two is a well-known benefactor, having given millions away. He’s also a signed-up member of The Giving Pledge, writing that nearly all of his net worth “will be given away in the years ahead or left to my foundation.” But it is unlikely that Bloomberg's two daughter, Georgina and Emma, disagree since they both work for philanthropic causes.

Michael Bloomberg also ran one of The most expensive US presidential campaigns of the 21st century

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of social networking site Facebook, and his wife Priscilla Chan know the value of the $113.5 billion (£82.3bn) empire they’ve created. And instead of handing their fortune over to their daughters Maxima and August, they’re going to let them find their own way in life. After the birth of their first daughter in 2015, the couple pledged to donate 99% of their Facebook shares – about $45 billion (£29.1bn) at the time of pledging – to the Zuckerberg Foundation. 

Elon Musk may be the richest person on the planet, but that doesn’t mean that his six sons, the youngest of whom ex-partner Grimes gave birth to last May, will inherit much of his $283.8 billion (£205.8bn) wealth. The Tesla founder and CEO signed The Giving Pledge in 2012, and has already donated more than $12.9 billion (£9.3bn) to causes including renewable energy, science and engineering education. The tech mogul also only receives a $1 salary each year, although that doesn’t account for the billions he makes from his shares in Tesla and other companies.

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, pictured with eldest daughter Jennifer, formed their eponymous foundation in 1994, then in 2010 created The Giving Pledge with Warren Buffett. The Microsoft magnate doesn’t think it would be “good either for my kids or society” to leave too much to his three children – instead Gates reportedly said in 2017 they’ll receive $10 million (£7.25m) each out of the $136.6 billion (£99bn) fortune.

Now read about the billionaires with no kids to leave their fortune to

The CNN anchor, who reportedly earns $12 million (£8.6m) per year, has stated that he won't leave a "pot of gold" for his son when he dies. Instead, the son of the late heiress Gloria Vanderbilt will follow in his mother's footsteps, who previously told him that she'd only pay for his college education. Cooper, who became a parent in 2020, views inheritances as a "curse", stating that they kill a person's drive to succeed.

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have a combined fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars through their acting careers and Kutcher's lucrative investment portfolio. But they don't intend to leave their riches to their two young children. "I'm not setting up a trust fund for them," Kutcher once said in an interview. He added that he would instead donate his money to charity. Kunis controversially declared in 2017 that the children wouldn't be receiving Christmas presents since gifts "don't matter" at such a young age. However, Kutcher did state that if his children had good business ideas he'd invest in them.

Marie Osmond, scion of the famed Osmond showbiz family, won’t be leaving any money to her eight children. The musician-turned-talk show host said, "I think you do a great disservice to your children to just hand them a fortune because you take away the one most important gift you can give your children, and that's the ability to work." She added that she wanted her children to be proud of what they earned and that her fortune would be going to charity.

Shaquille O’Neal (pictured with his son Shareef) has a reported net worth of $400 million (£343.5m), but his eight children have one major condition to meet before receiving their share. The NBA star told 7News Australia "In order to get my cheese, you have to present me with two degrees." That's right, Shaq's children must earn not one, but two college degrees to inherit any money. He added, "I'm teaching them about generational wealth right now. I tell them all the time, we don't need another NBA player in the house. If you want to play, I can help you get there. But I would rather see a doctor, a dentist, a veterinarian, a world traveller, a hedge fund guy…"

Read more about the life of the secret billionaire who gave it all away