Melinda French Gates is opening up about her “unbelievably painful” divorce from Bill Gates.
Melinda Gates
“I had some reasons I just couldn’t stay in that marriage anymore. But the odd thing about COVID is that it gave me the privacy to do what I needed to do."
Melinda Gates
“It’s unbelievably painful, in innumerable ways, but I had the privacy to get through it.”
Melinda and Bill, 66, married in 1994 and were together for 27 years before divorcing in May 2021. They have three children together — Jennifer, 25, Rory, 23, and Phoebe, 19 — who were always Melinda’s “main concern” during the separation.
The former couple also founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 and continue to run it together following their separation — which French Gates credits for helping her process her emotions.
“I kept working with the person I was moving away from, and I needed to show up and be my best self every single day."
Melinda Gates
“So even though I might be crying at 9 a.m. and then have to be on a video conference at 10 a.m. with the person I’m leaving, I have to show up and be my best."
Melinda Gates
“I learned as a leader that I could do it. It reminded me that the foundation calls me to be my best.”
It was revealed in 2021 that Bill had a lengthy affair with a Microsoft employee in 2000 and that he reportedly asked out several women in the office while he was married, though it’s unclear how much French Gates knew about this behavior at the time.