By Callum 
Barbara Boothe is a figure who embodies a unique paradox of public life: she is famous for being unknown. In an era where influencers meticulously curate their personal brands and celebrities leverage every minor scandal for screen time, Barbara Boothe stands as a sentinel of privacy. She is the former wife of Larry Ellison, the brash, swashbuckling co-founder of Oracle and one of the wealthiest men in the history of technology. Yet, unlike nearly everyone else in her orbit, she slipped out of the spotlight and stayed out, building a life defined not by her ex-husband’s fortune, but by horses, family, and a fierce determination for normalcy.
To understand Barbara Boothe is to look beyond the tabloid headlines and the “ex-wife of a billionaire” trope. It is to understand a woman who met the chaos of Silicon Valley’s golden age, walked away from it with her dignity intact, and raised two of Hollywood’s most powerful producers while tending to a 200-acre horse farm in Oregon.
The Early Days: From Receptionist to Mrs. Ellison
The story of Barbara Boothe begins in the early 1980s, a transformative era for technology. While the world was slowly waking up to the personal computer revolution, a young Barbara Boothe was working as a receptionist at Relational Software Inc. (RSI) in the San Francisco Bay Area .
RSI was not yet the behemoth Oracle that we know today. It was a scrappy, ambitious startup founded by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates. It was here, amidst the hum of servers and the intensity of software development, that Barbara met Larry Ellison. At the time, Ellison was a hard-driving, brilliant, and complex entrepreneur. He was living on the edge financially and professionally, betting everything on a revolutionary database management system .
Their relationship moved quickly. They married in 1983, the same year that RSI was renamed Oracle Systems Corporation to align with the name of its flagship product . The 1980s were a whirlwind for the couple. Larry was becoming a celebrity in the tech world, while Barbara was starting a family. In 1983, they welcomed their son, David Ellison, followed by their daughter, Megan Ellison, in 1986 .
The Divorce: A Quiet Exit from a Loud World
The marriage to Larry Ellison was intense but brief. By 1986, after only three years of marriage, the couple divorced . The reasons for the split have largely remained private, shrouded in the rumor mill typical of high-net-worth separations. Some reports suggest Ellison’s infidelity was a factor, but Barbara has never publicly confirmed these claims .
What is most telling about Barbara Boothe’s character is what she did after the divorce.
In the wake of a marriage dissolution involving a man who would go on to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, most people might fight for the flashiest settlement or sell their story to the highest bidder. Barbara did the opposite. She took her settlement—the specifics of which have remained notoriously secret—and retreated .
While Oracle stock split and soared, and Larry Ellison began buying Hawaiian islands and winning America’s Cup yachting trophies, Barbara Boothe moved to Wilsonville, Oregon . She left the canyons of Silicon Valley for the misty pastures of the Pacific Northwest. This was not a retreat into obscurity out of shame; it was a strategic retreat into the life she actually wanted.
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Building a Legacy in the Dirt
If you search for “Barbara Boothe” in the context of her own career, the name “Wild Turkey Farm” appears consistently . This is where Barbara Boothe truly shines. After her divorce, she channeled her energy and resources into her passion for equestrian life.
Wild Turkey Farm became her life’s work. Located in Oregon, the farm is a sprawling 200-acre property dedicated to breeding, raising, and training horses . In the world of equestrian sports, Barbara (often referred to as Barb Ellison within the community) built a reputation that was entirely her own.
She wasn’t just a wealthy woman buying ribbons. She was a steward of the land and an active participant in the sport. Her dedication to the craft reached a peak in 2020 when she received the Mrs. A.C. Randolph Owner’s Legacy Award . In the horse world, this is a significant honor, recognizing her long-term commitment to breeding and the betterment of the sport. This accolade had nothing to do with Oracle or Larry. It was 100 percent Barbara Boothe’s achievement.
The Fruit of Her Labor: David and Megan Ellison
Perhaps the most compelling evidence of Barbara Boothe’s success as a person is visible in her children. David Ellison and Megan Ellison are two of the most influential figures in modern Hollywood, yet they represent the values of their mother far more than the excess of their father.
David Ellison founded Skydance Media. While his father’s money helped open doors, David’s work ethic secured his position. He is the producer behind massive blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and Star Trek Into Darkness . David is often described as a disciplined, high-energy risk-taker—qualities that echo his biological father—but his reported down-to-earth nature and loyalty to his team are traits often attributed to his mother’s upbringing.
Megan Ellison took a different, arguably more artistic path. She founded Annapurna Pictures, a studio famous for backing auteur-driven, often risky films that major studios wouldn’t touch. She funded Zero Dark Thirty, American Hustle, Her, and Phantom Thread. Megan is known for her eccentricity, her privacy, and her fierce protection of artists .
Both children grew up splitting time between their father’s lavish estates and their mother’s horse farm. While Larry provided the resources, Barbara provided the grounding. In interviews, David has often spoken about the importance of staying hungry and focused, lessons that likely came from watching his mother build a farm from the ground up rather than simply buying a finished property.
The Fortune: How Much is Barbara Boothe Worth?
This is where the mystery deepens. Unlike her ex-husband, whose net worth fluctuates with Oracle’s stock price (estimated in the hundreds of billions by 2025), Barbara Boothe’s net worth is a closely guarded secret .
Estimates online vary wildly because there is no public record. Some sources speculate she is worth tens of millions, while others suggest her assets are in the hundreds of millions, derived from her divorce settlement and the appreciation of her real estate holdings, including the Oregon farm .
However, most analysts agree that Barbara Boothe is not in the “billionaire” conversation. Unlike many tech ex-wives who received stock options that continued to vest, Boothe’s settlement appears to have been a fixed asset or cash payout from the mid-80s. She has managed that wealth prudently, turning it into a thriving equestrian business, but she has not benefited from the astronomical rise in Oracle’s market cap in the same way Ellison’s current wife might.
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Privacy as Power
In 2026, Barbara Boothe is likely in her mid-60s. She does not have Instagram and she does not tweet. She does not give interviews . The last time the public caught a glimpse of her life was largely through the lens of the real estate market, when news surfaced that her magnificent Oregon farm was listed for sale in 2011 .
Her story is a masterclass in the power of walking away. In a world that tells women they must “lean in” and monetize every aspect of their existence, Barbara Boothe leaned out.
She understood that proximity to power does not define one’s own power. By leaving Larry Ellison—not just the marriage, but the lifestyle—she found autonomy. She is not “Larry Ellison’s ex-wife” in the tabloid sense; she is the founder of Wild Turkey Farm and the matriarch of the Ellison film dynasty.
The Legacy of Barbara Boothe
Barbara Boothe’s life answers a fascinating question: What do you do after you’ve touched the sun? You don’t try to hold it. You step back, you plant a garden (or a farm), and you let your children fly.
Her legacy is not a corporate tower or a software patent. Her legacy is stability. In the chaotic biosphere of the Ellison family—known for lavish spending, aggressive business tactics, and high-profile relationships—Barbara Boothe is the calm eye of the storm.
She demonstrated that wealth does not require spectacle. Success does not require a boardroom. And happiness, for her, required a horse, some land, and the silence that comes with being left alone.
As we look at her two children dominating Hollywood, and her ex-husband dominating the tech headlines, Barbara Boothe remains the silent architect in the background. She is the one who got away—not just from a marriage, but from the madness of fame itself. And for that, she remains one of the most intriguing, and enviable, figures in the American saga of tech and wealth.
Frequently Asked Questions About Barbara Boothe
1. Who is Barbara Boothe?
Barbara Boothe is an American businesswoman and equestrian entrepreneur. She is best known for being the second wife of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, to whom she was married from 1983 to 1986, and the mother of film producers David and Megan Ellison .
2. What is Barbara Boothe’s net worth?
Barbara Boothe’s net worth has not been publicly verified or disclosed. While various online sources estimate her wealth to be in the millions, deriving from her divorce settlement and her equestrian business, there are no official financial records to confirm an exact figure .
3. What does Barbara Boothe do for a living?
She is primarily known as the owner and operator of Wild Turkey Farm, a 200-acre equestrian breeding and training facility located in Wilsonville, Oregon. She is also a recipient of the Mrs. A.C. Randolph Owner’s Legacy Award for her contributions to horse breeding .
4. Did Barbara Boothe remarry after Larry Ellison?
No public records or reliable sources indicate that Barbara Boothe remarried after her divorce from Larry Ellison in 1986. She has maintained a very private personal life and appears to have remained single, focusing on her children and her farm .
5. How is Barbara Boothe related to Skydance and Annapurna?
She is the mother of David Ellison, the founder and CEO of Skydance Media, and Megan Ellison, the founder of Annapurna Pictures. Her role in raising them has often been cited as a grounding influence on their successful careers in Hollywood .