She wanted to sever her remaining ties with her biological family, and she hoped a new name would make it harder for her mother to find her. (She also spent long stretches sleeping at friends houses.) MacKenzie Bezos has authored two novels, so far. and not another? Amazon was Mr. Bezos dream, and Ms. Scott did not give up on her own dream of writing novels. She was working multiple jobs, and she owned almost no personal or material items, she said. When Mackenzie initially contemplated applying for the Rhodes Scholarship, she asked Moore and Damianos, the recent Rhodes Scholars, if they thought it would be a problem that she was involved in a wrongful-death lawsuit that a family had filed against Penn. She was invited for an interview at a hedge fund, D. E. Shaw. You describe an experience, Winkelstein said. Fendell told her that, if she couldnt talk about why she was injured, she should write it down. You should know that I dont feel I got there, she wrote to Ms. Morrison in 2000. I really dont have words, Mackenzie wrote in an e-mail to a mentor at the Penn Womens Center. These stories attract attention, in part because they offer comfort that, at least on occasion, such things happen. There is currency to a story about a person who comes from nothing and thrives in a prestigious setting. According to a detailed reconstruction of the conversation, composed by Mackenzie and the staff member soon afterward, Winkelstein asked why, in Mackenzies application for the school of social work, she had categorized herself as first-generation. If the U.S. Attorneys Office is getting their information from general counsel at the University of Pennsylvania, he told me, they might act differently based on where they are getting that tip, and there is no quick way out of a federal criminal prosecution.. Mackenzie agreed to withdraw from the scholarship. I wasnt quite ready to write a book. He was asked to run a fund-raising campaign at Seattles prestigious Lakeside School, where he taught and which seeks donations from the moderately paid faculty and staff members to a school with assets of $325 million and multiple billionaires in its tightknit community. CreditIllustration by Israel G. Vargas; Photo: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic. White, upper middle class, and in a position of power, Mackenzies mother was demographically dissimilar to most parents who come to the agencys attention. (Her fine was withdrawn, because the universitys charter says that financial restitution cannot be imposed in cases involving academic integrity.) With the help of a scholarship, Ms. Scott still managed to go to Princeton, albeit with a new, heavier burden. Perhaps her access to privilege helped her understand, in a way that other disadvantaged students might not, the ways that lite institutions valorize certain kinds of identities. She had not seen her mother in private since the day she was hospitalizeda court had ordered family therapy, but Mackenzie was terrifiedand had no financial support from her family. notifying her that the university had requested an investigation because of concerns that you misrepresented and/or embellished your background. She was supposed to receive her social-work degree the following month, but the letter said that her records would automatically be placed on hold until this matter is resolved., Norton asked Rogers Smith, a colleague in the political-science department, if he would serve as Mackenzies adviser for the disciplinary proceedings. (A spokesperson for the Rhodes Trust wrote, Fairness to all our applicants demands that if any issues or allegations arise, we consider them carefully, adding, We provide applicants multiple opportunities to respond, correct inaccuracies and share information.), Mackenzie wanted to submit a response to the Rhodes report, but Raffaele warned that her case could be referred to federal prosecutors, on the ground that she had misrepresented her finances in her application for federal aida possibility that he said White had raised. The luminaries in attendance at the anniversary party, aside from Mr. Bezos and Ms. Scott, were of a decidedly right-wing bent. I just remember her being fixated on worry that her mom was going to come into the hospital. At the nurses station, a small picture of Morrison was taped to the wall, so that, if she entered the building, nurses could alert security. Shortly before Ms. Scotts 17th birthday, her familys fortunes took a sudden turn. Im not a businessperson, but to me what I am hearing when he tells that idea is the passion and the excitement, Ms. Scott herself has said. Mackenzie is living proof of the parent coaching style in the book. There was also a nascent sense in the book of philanthropy as a good. And as a recent college graduate, working in recruitment at a financial firm, she married the man in the office next to hers, Jeff Bezos, and moved to Seattle to help him pursue his dream of an online retail empire one that would make each of them among the wealthiest people in the world even after their marriage dissolved. Ms. Scott with Jeff Bezos, her husband from 1993 to 2019. Dr. Morrison was arrested at the time but the case was dropped by prosecutors who said they could never prove Mackenzies claims. Down-to-earth! But then, then theres a writer out there named MacKenzie and the profound pleasure of editing comes rushing back.. The writing program was competitive. The district leaders and the community came together on Thursday to watch Mackenzie Morrison receive her diploma after her family car was hit on the way to No big house. Morrison told officers that her daughter asked her to extract some gum from her hair as she stood at the top of a staircase, and as she tried to, Fierceton jerked, fell down two steps, and then sat down. ), Three of the people who had written Mackenzie recommendations for the Rhodes composed new letters affirming that she had never misrepresented her life to them. Friends remembered the couple as fun loving, big on books but also other forms of culture. Her mother is radiologist Dr. Carrie Morrison, and her hobbies at school included horseback riding, skydiving and white water rafting. Rachel Webb, one of Mackenzies teachers from elementary school, said that Morrison left a message on her voice mail. During what would have been Ms. Scotts senior year of high school, ads appeared in local newspapers back in California for bankruptcy sales for J. Baker Tuttle Corporation, including items like IBM Selectric typewriters, Epson printers and mahogany desks. One student died, and another could have died, because of issues of access in this basement. Mackenzie wrote letters to the social-work school and to Gutmann, the universitys president, expressing her concerns. She was listed alongside the graduating seniors in the class of 1987 yearbook, and where their colleges were named it said merely that she was bound for England. Before leaving, the caseworker, who was white, explained that she didnt really need anything else from us and she was sorry to bother us, but was glad everything worked out, Mackenzie wrote. The administrative ruling was first reported by Medium Marker. He could not afford it, she wrote, pretending he had a job that made money and also pretending he could spend it., Ms. Morrison, who died in 2019, called Ms. Scott an extraordinary writer, almost full-blown, and indeed the novella is strikingly assured, as well as a little bloody, macabre and almost Gothic in places. She had distinct advantages over other first-time authors when the novel came out in 2005. ), After investigating Mackenzie for more than three months, the O.S.C. On paper, Lost Horses headquarters are a law firm office in a downtown Seattle skyscraper and a tax firm in Los Angeles that handles family offices for high-net-worth individuals. released a report on its findings. She described in detail how she had been at the top of her carpeted staircase trying to tease gum out of Mackenzies hair with a comb: She immediately screamed, ow, jerked her head back, and, after stepping back two or three stairs, stomped off to her room and slammed the door. Her degree will not be granted until she submits a letter of apology, a requirement imposed by an appeals panel. And why would an Ivy League school say, O.K., youve been abusedwere going to let you in. Thats not even a thing.. Through her high school graduation in 2017, Some people said that she had been inspired by the movie Gone Girl, about a woman who stages her own murder. I remember there was some blood with my lip, yeah, Mackenzie said. Then she grabbed Brandts hand and asked her to keep Morrison out of the hospital room. Her husband was by then one of the most famous men in America, but he was best known at the time for destabilizing the staid publishing industry to the detriment of local bookstores. Those concerns were temporarily overshadowed when, less than five months later, on Dec. 15, 2020, Ms. Scott announced another, even bigger round of giving, $4.2 billion to 384 organizations, including hundreds of Easterseals, United Way, Y.W.C.A. She lies better than I can tell the truth.. According to Mackenzie, Logan, who had been pregnant when her husband died, asked her to meet. Walter Licht, the faculty director of the program, described Mackenzie as the sort of student who asks a question that makes everyone stop and brings the quality of conversation to a different pitch. The Civic Scholars were encouraged to analyze how their identities intersected with systems of oppression and privilege. She was no longer seen publicly as Jeff Bezos ex-wife first. MacKenzie continued writing and developed an early but lasting propensity for deep research. After the caseworkers visit, Mackenzie was on high alert, trying not to set anyone or anything off, she wrote in her diary. She was infinitely more talented than anyone else in my class, and that was evident then, said Jeff Sloan, who taught her in sixth grade. A friend from Hotchkiss, Margot Bass, described her as original in everything from how she dressed eschewing the Laura Ashley prints many women wore on campus to how she saw the world. The Times columnist Nicholas Kristof tweeted the Inquirer article, saying it was thrilling that a Rhodes Scholarship had gone to a first-gen low-income foster youth, and Mackenzie retweeted what he wrote. People didnt want to deal with it anymore. The two flew to Fort Worth, where they picked it up. Mackenzies friend Kate Minorini told me, Mackenzies mom was using the Whitfield buzz bookthe school directoryto plead her case, so the rumor mill would have happened regardless, but a lot of the hearsay seemed to be based off the defense arguments of our classmates dad. There were rumors that Mackenzies bruises were self-inflicted, that she had thrown herself down the stairs to get attention. She learned last week that she had lost her appeal. Rhodes Scholar claimed she grew up poor and abusedthen her story started to unravel, the New York Post wrote. In an e-mail, an attorney for the D.S.S. A stockbroker tried to phone Mr. Tuttles company in November 1987 and was told that the family was in Europe for the month, according to the S.E.C. Fiercetons mother denied the account and said the teen had accidentally gone down two or three steps while Morrison was helping remove gum from her hair. Her mother began working at a womens boutique on fashionable Worth Avenue a short walk away. Three days later, on Dec. 18, 2020, the change of her last name to Scott was legal and official, according to court records from Bellevue, Wash. But, she said, I think they didnt want to make our school look bad, like we had missed anything when Mackenzie was with us. By most measures the worlds largest charitable foundation, Gates made those grants with a staff of over 1,700 employees. They learned that, the previous day, the history teacher had called Missouris Child Abuse and Neglect hotline, because Mackenzie had revealed details to her about being sexually abused by Lovelace. FGLI kids can go to private school and/or college preparatory school just as Mackenzie did. The father of one of Mackenzies high-school peers reached out to a Penn official, to explain that the news coverage about Mackenzie was inaccurate. In talking about her childhood, Mackenzie was fragile, sometimes narrowly avoiding tears, but when she reflected on how her life intersected with her political ideals she became focussed and self-possessed. WebView the profiles of professionals named "Mackenzie Morrison" on LinkedIn. Brandt later noted that Morrison had not asked how Mackenzie was doing or showed any emotion., Brandt also asked Morrison about the episode, which Mackenzie had reported the day before, when Mackenzie had woken up to Lovelace touching her breasts. Did I do something wrong to make her not want to?, In her journal, Mackenzie described her mother as having two faces, one manipulative and aggressive, the other nurturing and kind. Three days after the Inquirer story was published, Morrison wrote White an e-mail, thanking her for the conversation and explaining that Mackenzie has been loved and cherished every moment of her life. She said that when Mackenzie implodedat the time of her hospitalizationshe had just failed the first AP Chem test and was overwhelmed with work load in other classes. (Mackenzie said she didnt fail any chemistry tests; her transcript shows that she earned a B-plus in the class.) For her personal statement, Mackenzie responded to the prompt Describe an experience which caused you to change your perspective with an essay about finding herself in the pediatric intensive-care unit and looking at her bruised face in the mirror. She described the one who almost killed me. In the tweet, she added in a parenthetical: (Note my Medium account is under my new last name changed back to middle name I grew up with, after my grandfather Scott. It is seven years later, and I am still having to prove and prove and prove what has happened to me., Anea Moore, who helped found Penn First, wrote the Rhodes Trust a letter about Mackenzie. Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker. Two days after starting the journal, in March, 2014, she wrote an entry about a head injury she'd suffered three months earlier. You have to become a caretaker. Moore didnt think it was right, for instance, that universities commonly closed many dorms and cafeterias during the holidays, leaving vulnerable students feeling displaced. After she was released, her classmates told her how long they believed she had waited for medical care. The judge ordered that Morrisons name be struck from the state registry. In an e-mail, an attorney for the D.S.S. notified Mackenzies lawyer of the decision, writing, I am very saddened by the result in this case as I have always believed Mackenzie 100% on everything and I always will. The car was a Chevy Blazer, a gift from Mr. Bezos father. A consulting physician said that Mackenzie most likely fell down the steps at home and hit her head. He observed, She appears scared., In the months since her head injury, Mackenzie had regained memories from the weekend before her fall, and she recalled that she and her mom had been fighting about Lovelace. I went with the story my mom told me to tell, which is that I was playing with my dogs in the living room and I tripped and fell into a table, she wrote in her journal. Morrison denied that she had ever hit her daughter, whom she described as emotional and intense. community or all three. In 2011, Mr. Bezos and Ms. Scott donated $15 million to Princeton for a center to study the brain. )., The year after the book appeared, in April 2014, Ms. Scott launched her own organization, Bystander Revolution, which was a website offering practical, crowdsourced advice about simple things individuals can do to defuse bullying and help shift the culture.. Thats what I tasted, yeah, Mackenzie responded. Husband of Private. She wrote that Mackenzie, in her application, had failed to acknowledge her upper middle-class upbringing and provides a description of a life of abuse that the judicial process concluded could not be substantiated. Winkelstein attached orders showing that a circuit court had reversed the D.S.S.s finding of abuse, and that Morrisons arrest had been expunged. Mackenzie appealed the decision, arguing that the first-generation question had not felt straightforward. Mackenzie told the hospital staff that she didnt remember what had happened. Dr. Morrison was arrested at the time but the case was dropped by prosecutors who said they could never prove Mackenzies claims. Korzen was magnetic a master storyteller who could make a roomful of people laugh. No girls in velvet dresses, was disappointing. I had bruising around my face, Mackenzie replied. Attempts to reach Ms. Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett, a chemistry teacher, for this article by phone, email and letter, directly and through intermediaries, were met with silence. Ms. Scott found herself juggling waiting tables and writing, staying for a stint in the New York City apartment belonging to the family of her friend from Hotchkiss, Ms. Bass. She said it felt like an attack on a student. Licht was disturbed that the conversation appeared to have been provoked by a mother possibly seeking vengeance. (The university has said that Winkelsteins questions were appropriate and that her manner was not aggressive. Mackenzie had been an organizer on campus for a variety of causesshe advocated for the university to defund campus police and to reimburse public schools for unpaid property taxesbut in the months before she applied for the Rhodes she had been involved in a more straightforward matter: improving building safety. Its hard to breathe because my ribs are so severely bruised, and I cant laugh, smile, or chew without it hurting, Mackenzie wrote in a journal she kept at the hospital. The number of first-generation students on campus became a new benchmark, a sign that a university was fulfilling its social contract. I am grieving the idea of herthe idea I had once created for her., Mackenzie told me that, in the past year, shes experienced a state of self-doubt that she hadnt known since high school: There have been moments of almost panic where I am just cognitively questioning myself, like, Did I misremember something? Its easy to slide back into that state, because I want anything other than the realitythat it is my bio family who has caused so much harmso I will do backflips to try to make it not true. In her high-school journal, she had described this cycle of doubt. Penn seemed to embrace Mackenzies story as evidence of its commitment to promoting social and economic mobility. A month after beginning the journal, Mackenzie came to school with a black eye. Mackenzie took another sip of water. They asked how Mackenzie had been injured. She has given me a real example of a life of passionate devotion to more than one calling.. That same year, in September, Mr. Bezos and Ms. Scott pledged $2 billion to open Montessori-inspired preschools and support homeless families. G. Scott Cuming was an executive and general counsel at El Paso Natural Gas, a powerful energy company that faced antitrust actions over its acquisition of a pipeline company. Using her phone to light the pages, she listed the pros of telling: no more physical/emotional attacks, I get out of this dangerous house, the truth is finally out, I dont have to lie or cover things up. Under cons of telling, she wrote, damaging moms life, could go into foster care, basically I would probably lose everything. After she finished, she loosened the screws of a vent panel on the wall outside her closet and slipped the notebook behind it.