SEPARATING can be stressful enough, but there’s even more at stake in a billion-dollar breakup.
Forgetting dividing the dinnerware — a big-money divorce means splitting up the multi-million dollar properties and priceless artwork.
When tech and real estate entrepreneur Allison Huynh parted ways with her husband, she had to figure out how to keep her funds — and favorite items.
Some of those items, which total millions of dollars, included antiques, jewelry, and even a piece of furniture from JFK — because the rich divorce differently.
She even has the original Hope canvas of former President Barack Obama.
Speaking to The U.S. Sun, she shared her advice for how others can do the same — regardless of what’s at stake — as well as what it’s really like inside a billion-dollar divorce.
“Try to keep your head up and stay positive — that’s what I did when I was marginalized with my contributions,” Huynh told The U.S. Sun.
She made sure she was the one to keep that Obama artwork.
“I knew my husband didn’t value it very much and I loved it and had collected it and it was very valuable. I used it a bargaining chip,” she said.
“I flipped that around and used that to strategically get the art in my estate.”
During the course of their very public divorce proceedings, which dragged on for over eight years, the couple’s real estate and stock holdings were heavily disputed.
While they eventually settled before the final accounting trial, it was the more personal items that held the most meaning for both parties.
No accountants or experts had to get involved with these behind-the-scenes billionaire divorce dealings.
“In a divorce, you have to see what’s valuable to that person, so I negotiated that offline without my lawyers,” she said.
“I got a lot of pieces that were both sentimental and valuable out of it when I negotiated on my own.
“You have to really understand the other person’s mindset.
“I really used this to my advantage so it was a really good and profitable win for me.”
She was especially glad to keep those pieces of art she had accumulated from women and minority artists.
Her collection includes artwork from Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, who is famous for her collaborations with Louis Vuitton.
“I feel like many of these artists have been marginalized, like myself, for their contributions,” she said.
Emotionally, I think we both got what we wanted out of it.
Allison Huynh
Her husband was also allowed to keep his most prized possessions — his comic book collections and board games.
“This was sentimental stuff for him, especially his Calvin and Hobbs archive, so I gave that all back to him in one piece,” she said.
“It was very valuable to him because he grew up with that,” she continued.
“Emotionally, I think we both got what we wanted out of it.”
What she decides to keep — or sell — is also up to her.
As early Obama supporters and some of his biggest donors, they were able to purchase the original and thus only Hope canvas that the famous posters were modeled after.
The modern, mixed-media artwork became representative of Obama’s bid for the 2008 election.
“It captured a hopeful moment in history,” she said.
“It’s arguably one of the most important and impactful pieces in political art history and blurs the lines in a way that art had never done before.”
And momentous costs money.
Huynh is pawning off the piece by artist Shepard Fairey in a private sale which she said will fetch her more than seven figures.
The mom of three, who runs her own family office, Alo, also acquired a rocking chair from President JFK during her marriage for almost $100,000 at auction in 2005.
While the historically significant piece of furniture was originally meant to be part of a Google installation, it is now in her home.
Around the time Google was going public, Huynh and her husband had proposed for them to incorporate a virtual library on their campus.
While they had planned for the rocking chair to be in the visitor’s center, they didn’t actually build a visitor’s center for another 20 years.
“The founders [of Google] are bright, but they have a short attention span,” she joked.
Through she remained behind the scenes supporting her husband for most of her professional and married life, she is now taking center stage.
Don’t let this former homemaker and PTA president fool you — she was responsible for some very profitable developments, including the idea of text-based advertising which later became AdWords.
This allowed Google to make money without banner ads — and this was back when people still had dial-up.
Meanwhile, her husband was paid generously in stock options for writing the original search engine.
I guess I made lemonade from lemons after going through such a long legal process.
Allison Huynh
“My husband was taking care of me,” she said.
She adds that she felt “marginalized and pushed to the side.”
Those days of being pushed aside, however, are long gone.
She later helped to co-create Willow Garage, which designs robotics and AI systems, with her then-husband, and was later bought by Google.
Huynh would eventually use AI to her advantage during the divorce.
“I guess I made lemonade from lemons after going through such a long legal process,” she said.
The company she invested in and still advises, Humata.Ai, allows you to upload large and complex legal documents.
“AI came onto the scene and I used it to help navigate the complexity of larger cases such as mine,” she said.
It continues to be used by many major law firms across various types of law.
She foresees — and hopes — for a future where AI will serve as a companion to help humanity.
She currently serves on the board at Stanford University’s Salisbury Robotics Lab.
One of the first applications she believes we’ll see is a wellness app — her lab is currently developing an AI nurse that she hopes will soon be able to diagnose everything from mental illness to skin lesions.
They are also working on a robot which will eventually help to administer shots and perform rehabilitation.
Her 18-year-old daughter, an artist and data scientist, is even interning in the lab where she is creating 3D models of the robots.
Aside from keeping some pricey pieces, she also advises always trying to keep the peace.
According to Huynh, making the transition as amicable as possible takes priority.
“Try to be discreet and focus on the best possible outcome for your children,” she said.
“No matter how many resources you have, the most important thing is to focus on the kids.”
“I have friends with the richest parents who left them with nannies all their lives.
“They were ignored or abandoned with all the luxury in the world, and they are mostly miserable, acting out and all types of escapism including illicit drugs.”
Meanwhile, she shared how other friends who weren’t of that socioeconomic background, provided what she deemed as the most important thing — TLC and attention.
Huynh has come a long way since first coming to America as a political refugee from Vietnam.
The philanthropist is dedicated to impacting future generations.
Back in 2014, she founded MyDream Interactive to address children’s need for fun, nonviolent educational games.
Next up, she will be launching her own wine brand which will be called Carpe Noctum, or seize the night.
More of this entrepreneur and philanthropist’s advice can be found in her latest book, Beyond Good and Evil: a Memoir on Culture and Family Life in Silicon Valley.
