Eric Schmidt’s scorned girlfriend’s lawsuit brings Playboy life-style into focus

She wished to be Mrs. Schmidt.

Michelle Ritter had change into used to driving around in tech billionaire Eric Schmidt’s Tesla, residing in his Bel Air Mansion and conducting enterprise conferences in a bikini – all whereas paying herself $1 million a yr.

But it wasn’t sufficient for the 31-year-old mistress. After 5 years of being with Silicon Valley’s most eligible married bachelor and 70-year-old ex-Google CEO, she wished him to go away his spouse for her.

Instead, he terminated their $100M enterprise relationship, triggering a lawsuit which has introduced his eye-opening, unconventional, relationship life below scrutiny.

The ex-Google CEO, worth $32 billion, has lengthy been often called a Silicon Valley participant, syncing up with completed and high-profile ladies.

“I know him really well – he needs a lot. He’s very open about it. He needs an open relationship,” a supply near the tech titan advised The Post.

Although Schmidt has an open marriage, sources advised The Post Ritter’s mistake was he’d by no means formally depart Wendy, his spouse of 45 years.

“It’s financial. He doesn’t want to split up his money,” one insider claimed, including: “They have a family and they have a foundation. I don’t think he wants to walk away from that.” 

It is unknown if Schmidt and Wendy — who lives her own life, largely on Nantucket, dedicated to philanthropy and making the island sustainable — have a prenup.

Sources claimed Schmidt additionally operates a hierarchy between his spouse and girlfriends, which Ritter seems to have tried to overstep.

Sources say Schmidt chooses who to take, spouse or girlfriend, relying on how necessary the occasion is.

“I simply noticed him and Wendy on the Milken Institute in LA. They simply got here down from assembly with the prince of Saudi Arabia. 

“At these high-level occasions or state visits he takes Wendy. 

“To [NYC member’s club] Zero Bond, or an Oscar watching party, he’ll take his girlfriend at the time,” the supply advised The Post.

“In the business, [Ritter’s] often called the tech spouse. Wendy is named the philanthropy spouse. 

“[Ritter] was doing all the work, but she didn’t get the recognition. She’s like, ‘Put a ring on it. People know me as your tech wife. I want to be your wife for real.’ ”

Before assembly Ritter,Schmidt had been linked to fashion designer Shoshanna Gruss, socialite Ulla Parker and Kate Bohner, a former CNBC correspondent, amongst others — although the splits haven’t all the time ended easily.

In a considerably hypocritical transfer, Schmidt famously dumped investor and monetary advisor Parker in 2019 after a couple of yr as a result of he bought bored with her simultaneously dating hedge funder Alex Roepers, The Post beforehand reported.

But it didn’t cease Schmidt — 4 months later he was noticed at a celebration in Sardinia, Italy, making out with former Olympic skater Alexandra Duisberg.

The pair had been rumored to be engaged in July 2019, according to Page Six , when Duisberg was seen sporting a pink, 10 carat sapphire ring. However, the connection fizzled out.

Schmidt’s relationship life has been tabloid fodder ever since Gawker printed a photograph in 2010 of him posing with Bohner at Burning Man — sporting a pink polo shirt and white ankle socks.

His relationship with Ritter, nevertheless, went far past the PDAs of his previous.

He is claimed to have poured $100 million into their failingAI startup, Steel Perlot, which has change into entrance and middle of their cut up.

“[Eric] was attracted to her intensity and thought she was going to be the next world class entrepreneur,” an insider advised The Post.

Schmidt had first met Ritter in 2020 when she was a pupil at Columbia, based on tech web site The Information. She is eight years youthful than his daughter, Sophie, whom he shares with Wendy (the couple additionally had one other daughter, Alison, who all of a sudden handed away from what their basis described only as “a long illness” in 2017).

Schmidt’s first public outing with Ritter was in 2021, showing at a Richard Branson house craft launch in New Mexico, which instantly set tongues wagging. 

A number of months later the pair launched Steel Perlot, with places of work in New York and Los Angeles, which Schmidt described as “an AI and analytics company of companies,” that might invest in businesses in virtual reality, AI, space and other industries. 

They launched the expertise incubator at Zero Bond in Noho. Steel Perlot went on to speculate hundreds of thousands in startups corresponding to AI firm Pyryon, funds platform Keeta and crypto buying and selling firm Tristero.

Publicly, Ritter appeared on the middle of Schmidt’s circle of energy gamers, which incorporates OpenAI’s Sam Altman and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. They had been additionally a fixture on the Hamptons social circuit, showing at Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin’s unique bash. 

However, Steel Perlot employees say the fading tech grasp and inexperienced businesswoman weren’t a terrific combo.

“She [Ritter] has a very hot-headed temper. She was extremely behaviorally inconsistent. You never really knew which version of her you were going to get,” a former worker advised The Post. 

“Other times, it was this bombastic, crazy, hyper-aggressive personality.”

Schmidt, founding father of the biz, was nowhere to be discovered, sources say, because of his hands-off strategy of letting Ritter run Steel Perlot.

“She put a bunch of crypto 23-year-olds in cost. She would maintain conferences in a bikini in Miami with workers.

“Suddenly she’s making one million {dollars} a yr and has no bills – she thought it was all the time going to be a clean test.

“She allowed these inexperienced people to hire other people. On top of that there was [some people] drinking at 11 in the morning,” the previous worker claimed, equating the vibe to that of the film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

The celebration ambiance got here to an abrupt finish as soon as Ritter and Schmitt broke up.

Ritter filed for a short lived restraining order towards the 70-year-old tech pioneer late final yr, based on bombshell court docket paperwork obtained by The Post. The restraining order was withdrawn shortly after.

There’s additionally a lawsuit, wherein Ritter accused Schmidt of stalking, abuse and “toxic masculinity” — claiming the tech titan subjected her to an “absolute digital surveillance system” whereas collectively.

Schmidt’s lawyer didn’t present a remark for this story. Other sources declare he’s nothing like that.

“He’s a nice hippie dad – he says yes to everything. He says ‘Yes’ to all these women. But he’s totally harmless,” stated one.

He and Ritter have additionally sparred over money and entry to the Bel Air mansion the place Ritter was residing, The Post reported final week.

Ritter’s lawyer, Skip Miller, laughs off claims concerning the work tradition of Steel Perlot, saying Schmidt’s associates at the moment are working a scheme to tarnish her repute.

“It’s a pack of lies, to vilify our client. Throwing mud against the wall and hoping some sticks isn’t going to win this case for them,” Miller advised The Post.

He additionally factors out how Schmidt was a giant a part of the corporate.

“It’s ironic. Eric Schmidt funded and managed every thing within the enterprise. He’s the highly effective good billionaire. He referred to as the pictures. He’s attempting guilty Michelle.

“It’s a smear campaign. He’s mad because she dumped him. Michelle did her job, built a successful business. She’s a competent professional person. Eric should stop spinning.”

Although some sources accuse Ritter of pulling the wool over Schmitt’s eyes over the corporate, the surprising efficiency of Steel Perlot would have been apparent to anybody concerned with the enterprise, sources declare.

The firm had $61 million in working losses and introduced in lower than $200,000 in income between its founding in 2021 and February 2024, based on financial documents reported by The Information. 

In her lawsuit, Ritter stated she had been locked out of Steel Perlot’s web site, a powerful indication she’s going to quickly be in search of a brand new job. There’s no phrase on whether or not Schmidt is in search of a brand new girlfriend.

The subsequent listening to of their case is scheduled for Dec. 4, but it surely doesn’t seem the mudslinging between them will stop anytime quickly.