The geek inherits the earth and now is walking away with the hottest women.
The Sun has highlighted the ever-increasing phenomenon of ‘TWAGs’ , uber-glamorous wives and girlfriends of Silicon Valley moguls.
TWAGs used to refer to the lovers of tennis stars, but the term’s usage has been disrupted by technology and now refers to beautiful women attracted to the nerd made good.
Writer Katie Glass concluded: “Silicon Valley has become the new Hollywood, as moguls and social media barons take over from film stars and sportsmen not just on rich lists, but as alpha men.
“Being a co-founder of a company is this decade’s equivalent to being a rock star or a chef. If their attractiveness to models and actresses proves anything, then being a TWAG — tech wife or girlfriend — is a “thing.”
Here’s our look at the Top 10 TWAGs:
SERENA WILLIAMS:
Tennis champ Serena Williams isn’t renowned for her unpredictable gestures but she caught us all off guard by announcing her engagement to Reddit co-founder and activist Alexis Ohanian following a whirlwind romance. Serena seems fond of her future husband’s company – she announced the news in a poem on her verified Reddit account. Until recently Williams had been romantically linked to her French coach Patrick Mouratoglou who is not on Reddit.
MIRANDA KERR:
Australian model Miranda Kerr, who has one of the hardest-working publicists in showbiz, recently got engaged to Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel. The news was shared via a custom-made Snapchat emoji of Evan going down on one knee proposing to her. “I said yes!!!” wrote Kerr — who used to be married to Pirates of the Caribbean actor Orlando Bloom and bore his child — on Instagram. Spiegel is worth $2.1 billion. She is worth $50 million. Their wedding will be a huge spectacle but many of the guests will probably be too engrossed on their phones to take much in.
EMMA WATSON:
Emma Watson, the 26-year-old Harry Potter actress, whose most recent memorable role has been delivering a speech in which she declared “He For She” in her capacity as UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, is ensconced with William Knight, senior manager at software company Medallia. The strapping Princeton grad “only” makes $90,000 a year so it must be love. Watson is tech-savvy herself- she recently revealed she has a paid subscription to the sexual pleasure research site OMGYES.com.
AMBER HEARD:
Following her bitter marital break-up with Johnny Depp, Amber Heard has reportedly moved on to PayPal and SpaceX rockets tech entrepreneur billionaire Elon Musk. The perennially colorful Musk, who is worth over $12 billion and arguably generates more column inches than most starlets, recently got divorced from actress Talulah Riley in Match.
LILY COLE:
Snow White and the Huntsman waif Cole, 28, has a track record as a ‘founder hounder’- somebody who repeatedly gets entangled with the founders of tech startups. She had a verified relationship with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey in 2013 before going out with Kwame Ferreira, founder of the digital innovation agency Kwamecorp, with whom she has a baby son.
ALLISON WILLIAMS:
Williams, the daughter of disgraced embellisher Brian Williams, plays Marnie in Lena Dunham’s Girls. She married Ricky Van Veen, co-founder of website CollegeHumor, last year after he proposed to her while they were watching The Bachelor. Last May the New York Post’s Page Six reported it was Van Veen who Vogue supremo Anna Wintour was talking about when she said in the recent Met Ball doc The First Monday in May about a prospective unnamed invitee, “Can he not be on his cellphone the entire time, then?”
GABI HOLZWARTH:
Not so long ago half-Chinese violinist Gabi Holzwarth was busking on the streets of Palo Alto but she graduated to playing solo gigs for tech moguls. She met Uber Founder Travis Kalanick when she played at a party last year hosted by Iranian-American entrepreneur Shervin Pishevar who himself first spotted her outside Trader Joe’s. in Palo Alto. Holzwarth and Kalanick, who is worth $6 billion, have been dating ever since. Aptly, her set on that fateful night included the Bruno Mars song Billionaires.
NIKITA KAHN:
71-year-old Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is the world’s fifth richest man, worth $56.2 billion. He’s dating Nikita Kahn, a young actress whose most high-profile credit according to IMDB is 2011 action film Catch .44 in which she played ‘Mel’s Girlfriend.’ She’s also an animal rights activist, meaning some of her boyfriend’s money is doubtless being diverted to philanthropic use.
ALEXANDRA LENAS:
Annoying Sean Parker’s many enemies, songwriter Lenas once reportedly saved the life of the Napster founder and Facebook President when he accidentally ate a peanut (he has an allergic reaction to them.). Their wedding, held in a canopy among trees in the Big Sur decorated to look like an enchanted forest, reportedly cost $8 million (and was attended by fellow TWAGs Emma Watson and Allison Williams) . Unlike many other TWAGs, Lenas has two children with her husband so that if all goes OK, future generations can take over the Parker Foundation. That’s a very big ‘If’.
ALEX RODRIGUEZ:
Alex Rodriguez is, of course, a man, but qualifies as a reverse TWAG. The New York Yankees baseball star was previously renowned for dating actresses Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz but has fled Hollywood to settle down with Anne Wojcicki, the CEO of genomics company 23andMe who used to be married to Google founder Sergei Brin. The couple attended the Met Ball and she’s been to see him play at Yankee Stadium. But lately A-Rod hasn’t been getting selected and has been working ‘model, actress, whatever’ hours.
