Elizabeth Holmes’ journey into motherhood has unfolded under extraordinary circumstances.
The 42-year-old, whose story is explored in the new documentary You Can See Everything, was facing federal criminal charges when she welcomed her first child.
In 2022, Holmes was convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud investors and three counts of wire fraud involving more than $140 million. The charges stemmed from her failed blood-testing company, Theranos, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
Much of her children’s early years has taken place while Holmes was incarcerated. She has spoken openly about the pain of missing milestones, from the first days of school to saying goodbye to the two children she shares with partner Billy Evans after weekly prison visits.
Even so, Holmes has described her children as her “angels” and greatest blessing as she continues to maintain her innocence from prison.
Here is what to know about Elizabeth Holmes’ life as a mother.
Who Are Elizabeth Holmes’ Children?
From the outset, Holmes’ experience of motherhood has been closely tied to the criminal case surrounding Theranos.
Her fraud trial was postponed in 2021 so she could give birth to her first child, a son named William, according to The Associated Press.
A year later, Holmes was pregnant with her second child when she received a sentence of more than 11 years in federal prison.
Before the sentence was imposed, Evans made an emotional appeal to the judge, asking for leniency.
In a letter obtained by People, he wrote, “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.”
In 2023, Holmes also asked to remain free while pursuing an appeal, citing in part the recent birth of her daughter, Invicta.
The request was rejected. Holmes reported to FPC Bryan, a minimum-security federal prison camp for women located roughly 90 miles outside Houston, on May 30, 2023, The New York Times reported.
Elizabeth Holmes Explains Why She Wanted to Have Children After Arrest
Holmes recently responded on social media to criticism over her decision to have children with Evans while criminal charges were still pending.
“You ask me about family, about why I chose to have children in the face of fighting to prove my innocence,” she wrote on X in a post Sept. 30. “My children are my angels. They are God’s angels. I am the luckiest person in the world to be blessed by having them in our lives.”
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She said motherhood was a lifelong dream.
“I know what it means to be blessed and to lose. The greatest truth I know is that no dream nor ambition—nothing—matters more than family,” she wrote. “Yes I thought I would win at trial, and then on appeal. I still believe I will prove my innocence, and the fact I haven’t yet torments me every single night. But I would give my life for a moment holding and loving them.”
Holmes said she hopes her children will grow up “knowing what it means to stand in the face of impossible odds for what you know is right and true, and in so doing, be truly free.”
Speaking to People, she added that she “can’t worry about others think,” saying, “It’s just when the timing happened.”
Elizabeth Holmes Describes Challenges of Parenting From Prison
At the same time, Holmes acknowledged that incarceration has kept her from important moments in her children’s lives.
“It pains me that I am behind bars and I’m not there for all the moments that matter in their life,” she told the outlet. “People can think what they’d like about me, but it just happened and it’s the happiest moments in my life. I love them.”
For instance, when her son started elementary school in August, Holmes wrote about her longing to be part of the day.
“I can’t believe my boy starts kindergarten tomorrow,” she wrote on X. “My soul is screaming to be there.”
During her prison sentence, Holmes has been able to have video calls—limited to 15 minutes—with her children and enjoy in-person meetings, according to The New York Times.
She opened up about the twice weekly visits, where she is allowed to watch her children play and cuddle with them, in a 2025 interview from behind bars with People, admitting that when the visits end it “shatters my world every single time.”
“The people I love the most have to walk away as I stand here,” she said, “a prisoner, and my reality sinks in.”
Holmes had a more optimistic take on the difficult goodbyes in an Oct. 5 post on X.
“As my fingers split apart from my Wills’ and Ivy’s when they went through that door, I kept thinking how completely grateful I am,” she wrote. “I know all we have is this moment. We don’t know what the future holds. We are alive. Thank God we have our health. And in that moment we were together. Our hearts are connected until we are together again. And I get to be loving them and my love with every fiber of my being. I am wrapped in gratitude.”
Though Holmes’ official release date with the Bureau of Prisons is listed as Feb. 22, 2030, ABC News reported last month that she is expected to transition to a community correction center, or halfway house, in Del Valle, Texas on Aug. 23, 2027 to finish out her sentence.
Its unclear what impact that could have on the amount of time she gets to spend with her family.