Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
What sort of gift should you buy your wife if you’re billionaire? Not a 7-foot sculpture in her likeness, Mark Zuckerberg said.
The internet went wild when he unveiled a silver and turquoise statue of his wife, Priscilla Chan, in August. However, Chan wasn’t as pleased with his towering tribute, the Meta CEO told Theo Von in an episode of the “This Past Weekend” podcast.
“I don’t think she was that happy with it,” the 40-year-old told Von.
They aren’t big on extravagant dates, Zuckerberg said, so he tends to use his inventive mind for grand gestures. Chan was a “good sport” and appreciative of the effort and creativity that went into the statue, he added. However, this gesture was a miss.
“She doesn’t want a sculpture of her in the front lawn — that’s weird,” Zuckerberg said.
It didn’t appear to be for any particular occasion, like a birthday or their wedding anniversary. At the time, his post said he was “bringing back the Roman tradition of making sculptures of your wife.”
Yet Zuckerberg, the person who commissioned the statue, asked Von, “Who wants a sculpture of themselves in the front yard?”
His tribute had an additional motive, however, he said. As a fan of artist Daniel Arsham’s work, Zuckerberg sought him out to collaborate on the project. He decided to use Chan, his college sweetheart, as the muse, “partially because that’s cool” but also because it’d be “crazy” to make a sculpture of himself.
“She’s kind of the target of my creative energy,” the billionaire said.
In October, Zuckerberg revealed a customized Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT for Chan and their three daughters. The “side quest,” as he described at the time came about because Chan wanted a minivan. On Monday’s episode, Zuckerberg told Von that he also worked on it because he likes cars but didn’t want to design a “super car” for himself.
His sculpture post sparked discussions and memes about what Zuck might’ve done to warrant a custom statue as an apology, but he said they’ve got it all wrong. The sculpture is the transgression.
“You’re going to have to wait and see what I have to do to make up having made a sculpture and putting it in our front lawn,” Zuckerberg said.
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