The children of Andrew and Nicola Forrest won’t inherit the vast majority of their parents’ wealth, despite the family holding Australia’s second biggest fortune.
Instead the couple’s $27.25bn will be distributed to a range of charitable causes, including Indigenous support, education reform and cancer research.
Mrs Forrest told the ABC’s Australian Story on Monday night’s episode that she didn’t want her children to “be burdened” by such immense funds.
“We live in a home and I have a great life – but the things that are most important in life, money doesn’t buy that,” she told the program.
“Children don’t benefit from thinking they’re going to inherit a huge amount of money.”
Mr Forrest echoed his wife’s sentiment, saying it was an easy move.
“The decision to give away everything but the personal things and goods was easy,” he said.
“You know, let’s not die wealthy. What’s the point of that?”
The Forrests share daughters Grace and Sophia and a son, Sydney, who are all aged in their 20s.
However, during the TV special, Mrs Forrest opened up about the loss of their stillborn daughter in the 1990s.
Matilda, the couple’s third daughter, was stillborn in 1998 after a “perfect pregnancy”.
Mrs Forrest learnt the tragic news just days before her due date during a routine doctor’s appointment in Perth in June of that year.
“I went into the appointment, I said, “Oh, I didn’t think I was going to make this appointment.” And he said, “Why not?” And I said, “Because I haven’t felt the baby move for 24 hours”,’ she told the program.
“There’s a saying that when a baby goes quiet, it’s just before it’s going to be born. And (after doing a check) he went, ‘Oh, this machine must be broken. ‘I’m going to send you down the road for an ultrasound.
“That’s the moment I knew.”
A post-mortem was carried out but no cause of death was discovered.
Mr Forrest echoed his wife’s devastation, saying the family still remember their baby daughter more than two decades on.
“Whenever we’re asked about our children, certainly in a quiet environment, we’ll say, ‘Yeah, we’ve got four kids – three on Earth and one in heaven,’,” he said.
“Matilda really was a fabulous gift, not ours to hold.”
The Forrests, who are based in Western Australia, accumulated their mammoth $27.25bn fortune largely through mining endeavours.
However, the family has pledged to donate more than half of the wealth during their lifetime through Bill and Melinda Gates’ Giving Pledge.
Indigenous causes, education reform and cancer research are set to receive the majority of these funds.
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