DISGRACED TECH EXEC ELIZABETH HOLMES 'It's Been Pure Pain'

IN HER FIRST PRISON INTERVIEW, THE FORMER THERANOS CEO SPEAKS OUT ABOUT HER LIFE TODAY

- DANIELLE BACHER

Twice a week, for a few fleeting hours, life is sweet for 41-year-old Elizabeth Holmes. It's when her kids William, 3, and Invicta, 2, snuggle in her lap and talk excitedly about insects, ant farms and sea creatures. Her son builds Legos, and her daughter dismantles them. Seemingly unaware of the beeping of metal detectors and the watchful eyes of guards at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan, Texas, the children and their father, Holmes's partner Billy Evans, 33, enjoy each moment with her. And like always, their most recent visit ended with a ritual when their time was up: The children pressed their fingers together to make a heart sign, saying in unison, "Mommy, this is our love." To which their mother responded, "Our love is a superpower." Watching them leave through the secured glass door that separates her from freedom "shatters my world every single time," says Holmes. "The people I love the most have to walk away as I stand here, a prisoner, and my reality sinks in.”

Of course, Holmes is no superhero, and the tough reality of her life today is a nightmare of her own making. After serving nearly two years of a nine-year sentence for fraud and conspiracy over the collapse of Theranos, the billion-dollar biotech corporation she founded, she is speaking out for the first time in a prison interview, conducted in a bare visitation room furnished with blue plastic chairs. Gone are the black turtlenecks and crimson lipstick she wore when she dazzled Silicon Valley, and the national media, as the bold CEO of a start-up that promised to revolutionize the health care industry with cheap diagnostic devices able to screen patients for hundreds of diseases with just a few drops of blood. Now she wears prison scrubs and speaks in a voice notably softer than the throaty baritone she was known for.