Elizabeth Holmes Speaks About the “Hell and Torture” of Prison, New Inventions, and Pregnancy “Optics”

Elizabeth Holmes, the Theranos founder who is serving an 11-year sentence for fraud, has described her life behind bars as “hell and torture,” in her first interview from prison, published in People on Wednesday.

Before reporting to Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas in May 2023, Holmes welcomed two children with partner Billy Evans, significantly drawing out the timeline of her trial process. The timing of the pregnancies, she told People, “wasn’t planned and I can’t worry about what others think.”

“I know how the optics look, but I always wanted to be a mother,” Holmes said.

There’s 3-year-old son William, whose July 2021 birth further pushed back her thrice-postponed trial, and 2-year-old daughter Invicta (meaning “invincible”), who was conceived after Holmes’ January 2022 conviction and born about three months before Holmes she began serving time. Holmes’ team cited the two young children when they asked for a lighter sentence.

“I truly did not think I would ever be convicted or found guilty,” she insisted. “I kept talking to my lawyers and they also assured me we would never get this far.”

She maintains her innocence, and pled not guilty in her trial, where she was ultimately found guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, of an initial 11 charges, and said in the interview that “there are things I would have done differently.”

Still: “I received a considerable amount of time I wasn’t expecting,” she said. “I always wanted a big family, Billy wanted even more kids.”

She is currently scheduled for release on April 3, 2032, having already gotten two years of her sentence reduced for good conduct. Her children will be 10 and 9 years old on her planned release date.

A May 2023 New York Times profile of Holmes caused an uproar when reporter Amy Chozick admitted in the piece that her editor at the paper said Chozick had been “rolled” by Holmes—please, call her “Liz,” she insisted—when Chozick found her to be “a devoted mother” and “authentic and sympathetic person.” Times employees protested the vaseline-lensed portrait of Holmes and questioned the integrity of the piece.

This latest interview highlights that after bringing two breast pumps to prison with her “because it was a way to love her [daughter] in here,” Holmes successfully lobbied for the addition of lactation rooms for breastfeeding mothers to have privacy in the prison housing. She teaches French to fellow prisoners, and has a job in prison helping women work on their cases for compassionate release and editing resumes for their re-entry into society. She also mentioned that she hand-wrote a seven-page document to change criminal procedure, including advocating for incarcerated parents. This Holmes is a doting mother torn away from the children she calls “angels,” determined to help others in her position find justice.

“This will be my life’s work,” she said.

Holmes acknowledged that the public seems to be suspicious of her, to say the least. “It’s surreal,” she told People. “People who have never met me believe so strongly about me. They don’t understand who I am. It forces you to spend a lot of time questioning belief and hoping the truth will prevail. I am walking by faith and, ultimately, the truth. But it’s been hell and torture to be here.”

And then there’s her other life’s work, one with a strong connection to her high-profile past: Holmes still dreams of innovating in the healthcare space, despite the very public scandal of her sham blood-testing technology company, Theranos.

“There is not a day I have not continued to work on my research and inventions,” she said. “I remain completely committed to my dream of making affordable healthcare solutions available to everyone.”