The 11 Year Relationship Of College Sweethearts, Mark Zuckerberg And Priscilla Chan
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg met in line for the bathroom at a Harvard party in 2003. Zuckerberg's fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, was hosting a party and Chan, a sophomore from the Boston area, was there.
“He was this nerdy guy who was just a little bit out there,” Chan told The New Yorker. “I remember he had these beer glasses that said ‘pound include beer dot H.’ It’s a tag for C++. It’s like college humor but with a nerdy, computer-science appeal.”
When Zuckerberg took Chan out the first time, he told her he'd "rather go on a date with [her] than finish his take-home midterm," Chan told Today's Savannah Guthrie.
Chan was one of the first people to join Facebook, on February 5, 2004.
Perhaps the most telling sign of their long relationship is that Chan knew Zuckerberg before hoodies were his clothing of choice. "There is the black fleece period, the red puma period, the short lived white coat period and the really soft green thing period," she commented in 2006.
Chan loves kids. She worked at FASE and at The Harker School teaching 4th and 5th grade. "These little ones inspired me," she says.
In 2007 Chan graduated from Harvard. Zuckerberg was there to celebrate. Chan followed him to California. She became a med student at UCSF and rented an apartment near Golden Gate Park. Zuckerberg would visit her most weekends.
"They walk in the park, go rowing (he insists that they go in separate boats and race), play bocce or the board game the Settlers of Catan. Sundays are reserved for Asian cuisine," The New Yorker writes of the couple.
Because Zuckerberg is so busy with Facebook, Chan set some strict ground rules for their relationship. Chan requires a minimum of 100 minutes of alone time per week, not at Facebook. She also requires one date per week, TechCrunch reports.
The couple has traveled the world together. They typically spend two weeks in December abroad and they've taken trips to China to see her family. Zuckerberg even started learning Chinese.
Chan was there through all the ups and downs. Here she helped Zuckerberg take photos of himself for a BusinessWeek story.
And Chan was there when Zuckerberg turned down multiple buyout offers, including a $1 billion offer from Yahoo in 2006. Chan told The New Yorker she thought that was Zuckerberg's most stressful time period. "I remember we had a huge conversation over the Yahoo! deal. We try to stick pretty close to what our goals are and what we believe and what we enjoy doing in life—just simple things,” she says.
In September 2010 Chan moved in with Zuckerberg. He announced the news on Facebook: "Priscilla Chan is moving in this weekend. Now we have 2x everything, so if you need any household appliances, dishes, glasses, etc please come by and take them before we give them away.”
One month later they offered hoards of candy to trick or treaters.
In March 2011, Chan and Zuckerberg picked up this pooch, Beast.
That same month, the couple finally acknowledged they were in a relationship on Facebook.
Two years ago, Zuckerberg and Chan tied the knot just days after Chan graduated from med school and Zuckerberg took his company public.
They honeymooned in Italy but had a pretty casual vacation. They were spotted eating McDonald's for a meal while abroad.
Last year they enjoyed a "budget" vacation in Hawaii, surfing, and feasting on Kauai's Bubba burgers, according to The Daily Mail.
Together, Chan and Zuckerberg have become major donors and have given hundreds of millions to support education on both coasts. The couple just announced it'd be putting $120 million toward improving San Francisco public schools.
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