Who Is Elizabeth Holmes' Husband? Everything to Know About Billy Evans

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has been married to her husband Billy Evans since 2019

Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos Inc., left, leaves federal court with partner Billy Evans in San Jose, California, US, on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022
Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

While the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her former company, Theranos, have been heavily documented, little is known about the disgraced entrepreneur's relationship with her husband, Billy Evans.

Holmes is behind one of the most infamous startups in recent history after her blood-testing company was exposed as an "elaborate years-long" fraud. The one-time Silicon Valley darling was the subject of an HBO documentary, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, and a Hulu series, The Dropout, starring Amanda Seyfried, the latter of which documented her previous romance with her ex-boyfriend and former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani. (Balwani was found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in July 2022.)

Holmes and Evans met just as Theranos was collapsing, and the pair got serious quickly, moving into a San Francisco apartment together, marrying in a secret ceremony in 2019 and having a baby together in 2021.

Just months later, Holmes was found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. She was later sentenced to more than 11 years in prison in November 2022. Shortly after her sentencing, it was confirmed that Holmes was pregnant with her second child with Evans. A February 2023 court document revealed that Holmes had given birth ahead of her original April 2023 incarceration start date.

Given that she has two small children, Holmes, and her lawyers, requested that she remain free pending an appeal. However, Holmes' bid to stay out of prison was rejected and she reported to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas on May 30, 2023.

In July, federal prison records showed that Holmes' sentence was reduced by two years. She now has a release date of Dec. 29, 2032.

But who is Billy Evans? Here's everything to know about the hotel heir and his relationship with Elizabeth Holmes.

He comes from a family of successful hoteliers

Evans' grandparents founded a hospitality company, which runs three luxury hotels in San Diego. According to the Evans Hotels website, William and Anne Evans founded the company in 1953.

He attended MIT

Evans attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2010 to 2015, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Economics, according to his LinkedIn. During that time, he studied abroad in China at Fudan University in Shanghai, focusing on Chinese language and literature.

He worked in tech

Evans' LinkedIn profile doesn't list a place of current employment, but it does show that he worked at LinkedIn itself upon graduation, staying there until February 2017. He then moved to Luminar Technologies, a self-driving car company, as a special projects manager.

He and Holmes keep their relationship private

Billy Evans (L) walks with his partner Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes (R) as they arrive at the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building on December 10, 2021 in San Jose, California
Justin Sullivan/Getty

The pair reportedly met at a party in the Bay Area in the summer of 2017, though little is known about the early days of their relationship. Neither Holmes nor Evans have public social media accounts, though Vanity Fair reporter Nick Bilton uncovered private accounts the couple had in 2019 and shared a few photos from them on Twitter.

One of the photos shows the couple kissing, with Evans' caption: "Happy bday to my best friend. The last year has been the best I've ever had."

He and Holmes met in 2017 and got engaged in 2019

In 2017, at a charity benefit, Holmes and Evans were introduced by a mutual friend. They talked for three hours straight.

"To say we immediately fell in love isn't an overstatement," Evans told The New York Times during a joint interview with Holmes, who added that her now-husband entered their relationship with warranted skepticism.

"It had been two years of all this stuff written about me, and I think you get to know someone in a totally different way when you walk in with that skepticism versus if you meet when everything is sunshine and roses," she said. "That allowed us to get to know each other in a really deep way."

After a year and a half of dating, during which time Holmes and Evans were seen at Burning Man and at restaurants around their San Francisco neighborhood, reports emerged that the duo were engaged when Holmes was seen with Evans' MIT signet ring.

"Billy and the MIT ring, they are inseparable," a former Luminar colleague told the New York Post. "He could snap his fingers and have a triple-A diamond engagement ring instantly if he wanted to. But if you give her some extravagant ring, it could end up owned by the feds if she has to give up her material possessions."

That same year, the couple tied the knot during a private wedding in June 2019, according to Vanity Fair. At the time, Evans was 27 and Holmes was 35.

He and Holmes share two children

Holmes gave birth to their son, William Holmes Evans, on July 10, 2021, in Redwood City, California. Her pregnancy delayed her trial, which had already been moved several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In November 2022, it was revealed that Holmes and Evans are expecting another child. Per court filings obtained by The Times, she became pregnant after being convicted in January.

In photos taken at her sentencing, Holmes was visibly pregnant, suggesting she would give birth before turning herself in to federal authorities on April 27, 2023. A court document, filed in February 2023, revealed that the former Theranos CEO had given birth to her second child.

After she begins her sentence, however, "Her kids might see her for a few hours on the weekend[s]," Lynn Espejo, a criminal justice reform advocate and former federal inmate, told PEOPLE.

He supported Holmes through her trial

Elizabeth Holmes along with her partner Billy Evans (R) depart the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building on November 22, 2021 in San Jose, California
Ethan Swope/Getty

Holmes' trial ended on Jan. 3, 2022, when she was found guilty on four of 11 counts: three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to the Associated Press, Holmes showed no visible emotion while the guilty verdicts were read in court. Evans, however, appeared visibly shaken while getting a drink of water during a break after the verdicts were announced.

His father, Bill, also attended part of the trial — though he posed as a "concerned citizen" and called himself "Hanson" when he talked to the press during jury selection. The New York Times reported that Evans was a constant presence throughout the trial and often sat with Holmes' family in their reserved row.

Ahead of Holmes' November 2022 sentencing, Evans pleaded with the court to give her a lesser sentence, explaining that she would miss so many special moments with their son. "My heart is broken with the thought of spending any days away from Liz, for a future in which my son grows up with a relationship with his mother on the other side of glass armed by guards," he said in his memo.

He visits Holmes in prison

Holmes is serving her 11-year, three-month prison sentence at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas.

Evans visited his wife less than a week after she turned herself in on May 30, 2023. According to the Daily Mail, he and Holmes' parents spent seven hours with the infamous Theranos founder.

He and Holmes were interviewed by The New York Times in May 2023

Reporter Amy Chozick spent several days with Holmes and Evans for the couple's joint profile in The New York Times. To get a good sense of their dynamic as husband and wife and as parents, Chozick tagged along on a family zoo outing, visited the pair's rental home and shared several meals with Holmes and Evans.

Chozick struggled to determine if Holmes was being authentic throughout the interview process, considering she was convicted of corporate fraud. When the journalist broached the topic of honesty with the Theranos founder, Evans stepped in to defend his wife.

"Your question is, 'How do you say anything when everything you say is going to be doubted?' You just have to say it," he said.

The NYT reporter also touched on the public's perception that Holmes used her first pregnancy to delay her trial and her second pregnancy to avoid reporting to jail.

"If we let how other people might view that, or what impression someone might make of it dictate how we live our lives, then we've lost," the mom-of-two said, simply claiming "bad timing."

Holmes added: "Finding your person in the middle of all of this and experiencing that love when you're going through hell is the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced."