Who Is George Lucas' Wife? All About Mellody Hobson

The force of love is strong for power couple George Lucas and Mellody Hobson.

The iconic filmmaker, who created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film franchises, met his match in businesswoman Hobson, who founded Ariel Investments, one of the country's largest investment firms. After dating for seven years, the couple tied the knot in June 2013 and welcomed daughter Everest via surrogate in August 2013. It was the first marriage for Hobson and second for Lucas, who was previously married to film editor Marcia Griffin from 1969 until their divorce in 1983.

Hobson and Lucas typically keep their relationship private when they aren't making charitable donations or winning major awards. Though their careers don't often cross paths, Hobson has supported her husband in many ways, serving as co-founder and board member of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The Los Angeles-based museum is dedicated to visual storytelling and will open its doors in 2025.

In April 2024, Hobson and Lucas stepped out in New York City for a date night at GQ's second annual Global Creativity Awards. Hobson wore a black pinstriped suit embellished with stars, while Lucas wore a dark blue suit.

"I think [our relationship] works because we are extraordinarily open-minded people, and we're open to what the universe brings us," Hobson told Oprah Winfrey during a 2012 interview on Oprah's Next Chapter. "I think we didn't have preconceived ideas about what a partner should be, and so we allowed ourselves to discover something that was unexpected."

So who is George Lucas' wife? Here's everything to know about Mellody Hobson and her relationship with the legendary director and philanthropist.

She was raised by a single mom

Growing up in Chicago, Hobson was the youngest of six children raised by a single mother. Although her family experienced financial struggles, Hobson credited her mother with helping her to become the successful entrepreneur she is today.

"My mom was very unique," Hobson said on a 2022 episode of Meghan Markle's podcast, Archetypes. "She gave me the hard truths of life with so much love and support, but she never wanted me to go through life not being prepared for all that would come."

She continued, "So she taught me what to expect as a Black woman and a Black person, and I really do appreciate that aspect of her — I call it 'brutal pragmatism,' but with so much love," the executive added.

She attended Princeton University

As a first-generation college student, Hobson graduated from the former Woodrow Wilson School of International Relations and Public Policy at Princeton University in 1991.

In October 2020, Princeton University announced it would build Hobson College, the first residential college named after a Black woman.

"[This gift] will enable us to improve the student experience at Princeton and to reimagine a central part of our campus while also recognizing a remarkable woman who is a positive, powerful force for change in the world," President Christopher L. Eisgruber said at the time.

When Hobson came to Princeton from Chicago, no one in her family had graduated college, yet she said she still "felt at home."

"My hope is that my name will remind future generations of students — especially those who are Black and brown and the 'firsts' in their families — that they too belong," Hobson said. "Renaming Wilson College is my very personal way of letting them know that our past does not have to be our future."

She started dating Lucas in 2006

Hobson first met Lucas at a business conference in Aspen, Colorado, in 2006, and the pair began dating soon after. In March 2015, she told Vanity Fair that her friends were worried about the relationship at first, thinking that Lucas was "a ladies' man."

"Our first date was in Chicago. We were at RL Restaurant," Hobson said as she and Lucas accepted the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy at the New York Public Library in October 2019. "He wouldn't talk ... it was horrible. I told someone, 'get me out of here ... just call and say it's an emergency.' I was done, and I can pretty much talk to anyone, but there was a breakthrough."

She continued, "I brought up education, and everything changed, and we bonded over our strong conviction and belief that everyone deserved a great education. And after that, it was over."

She is a businessperson

The native Chicagoan is one of the most powerful women in the business world.

In 2020, Hobson was ranked No. 94 on Forbes' Most Powerful Women in the World list for her work as the president and co-CEO of the Chicago-based money management company, Ariel Investments.

Outside of her work at the investment firm, Hobson is on the board of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the Sundance Institute, and is on the board of directors of the Starbucks Corporation and formerly of The Estée Lauder Companies. She is also the former chairperson of DreamWorks Animation and previously worked as a financial contributor on Good Morning America and CBS News.

When reflecting on how she got to where she is today, Hobson shared some advice from her mom when she began working.

"She said, 'Make yourself indispensable. Make it so they cannot live without you, and they would never ever fire you,'" she told Forbes in June 2021. "I thought that was really great advice. Indispensable was just that. I was willing to do whatever it took."

She married Lucas in 2013

After the low-key couple announced their engagement in January 2013, Hobson and Lucas wed in a star-studded ceremony on June 22, 2013.

PEOPLE reported that Lucas and Hobson said "I do" at Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California, in front of 200 guests, including Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey.

The pair continued the celebration a week later in Hobson's hometown of Chicago in front of another group of A-listers, from Robin Williams and Star Wars actor Mark Hamill to Al Roker and Gayle King. Prince — one of Hobson's favorite artists — performed at the event with a 22-piece band, per The Hollywood Reporter.

She shares a daughter with Lucas

On Aug. 9, 2013, Lucas and Hobson welcomed their first child together via surrogate — daughter Everest.

"For Everest, [how she's impacted my view of the world] is understanding human potential," Hobson told First Friday Club of Chicago in May 2022. "And that it's endless, and that you can see it in a 1-year-old, a 2-year-old, a 5-year-old. And then ... I understand so clearly how that potential can be dramatically affected by circumstances, and that's not right. We should all have the opportunity to fulfill our full potential, and it should not be directly correlated to a zip code or a bank account."

She added, "There are so many children walking this planet, who have endless potential, become short-circuited by circumstances, and that's what I see in Everest."

Everest is Hobson's only child, while Lucas has three other children he adopted: Amanda, Katie and Jett.

She and Lucas are philanthropists

Together, Hobson and Lucas have donated millions of dollars through the Hobson Lucas Family Foundation.

The couple has contributed funds to the USC School of Cinematic Arts by providing financial support for minority students at the graduate and undergraduate levels, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter in October 2015.

When receiving the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2019, Hobson talked about the couple's charitable actions, saying, "We always say at the end of the day, 'we are just paying back society for the debt that we owe it.' We literally pinch ourselves with gratitude."

"We view ourselves as stewards of society's money. We're just holding this money for a little bit before we pass it on and give it back," she added. "We're just paying a debt, and a debt that we're happy to pay and hopefully one that will lead others to pay as well."

She watches movies with Lucas

When Hobson and Lucas want to relax from a day of work, Hobson said they binge-watch television or go to the movie theater.

"George likes to watch it in a movie theater with other people, and he likes to experience the crowd experiencing a film, not to watch it on his own," Hobson told David Rubenstein on his show in December 2021.

One perk of being married to a director is that watching movies becomes a learning experience.

"I love watching a movie with George because he really breaks it down for you," Hobson said.

She added, "It's not about [the film] being good; it's much more than that. He will tell you why the story is solid and the foundation of it is good. He'll tell you what's missing. He'll give you ideas of how the movie could be better. And I've watched a lot of films with George where he's broken them down for me in ways that are just so enlightening."

She is part-owner of an NFL team

In June 2022, Hobson became one of the first Black women to own part of an NFL team, joining former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It was announced that she is a part of the Walton-Penner group, which purchased the Denver Broncos, per The New York Times.

"This is a big deal. I mean, this is history," Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson told The Athletic of Hobson's involvement with the team.

Though it's unknown what percentage of the team Hobson owns, the $4.65 billion deal is one of the largest purchases of an American sports team in history.