According to CNBC, Bezos, then Jacklyn Gise Jorgensen, was barely 17 years old and a junior in high school when she gave birth to her son in 1964. At the time, her high school administrators told her she would not be permitted to finish her education there.
After she was allowed to return under strict conditions, Jacklyn Bezos graduated and later divorced from Jeff Bezos' biological father, Ted Jorgensen, after less than a year of marriage. Jeff Bezos was just over a year old at the time. She struggled to make ends meet while working as a secretary and, at one point, didn't even have enough income to afford a phone, CNBC reported.
Determined to make life better for her and her son, Bezos enrolled in college classes with professors who permitted her to bring her infant along. It was there that she met and eventually married Mike Bezos, a Cuban immigrant who would give Jeff Bezos his last name and step in as his father.