https://www.cnet.com/news/jeff-bezos-wild-180-from-quiet-geek-to-national-enquirer-blackmail-victim/ > That brief flash encapsulated Bezos' public profile for much of his career. Amazon's founder and CEO carefully cultivated a persona as a captain of industry, futurist and smartest guy in the room. Yes, many criticized his ruthless business practices and lack of charitable giving, but most perceived him as a winner and a genius. This image was helped by him maintaining a quiet personal life that from afar seemed free of controversy: longtime marriage, four kids, close relationship with his parents. > In a startling turn of events over the past few weeks, Bezos' public persona has turned into something entirely different. After he and his wife MacKenzie announced their divorce over Twitter last month, Bezos' extramarital affair quickly hit the gossip pages. Then, late Thursday, Bezos published a lengthy Medium post revealing an alleged blackmail plot by the National Enquirer, a publication with close ties to President Donald Trump. The paper was threatening to reveal salacious pictures of Bezos if he didn't back off an investigation into its work.