Melinda French Gates on ‘horrible’ divorce with Bill Gates: 'It's just painful'

Melinda French Gates acknowledged that her split was ultimately “more of a personal thing" but she was always worried about the couple's children.

Melina French Gates reflected on divorce from Bill Gates and said that the couple separated first before making the final decision in 2021. She said, “You know, I separated first before I made the full decision about a divorce. And to be able to do that in private while I’m still trying to take care of the kids, while still making certain decisions about how you’re going to disentangle your life - thank God.”

Philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates (R) and his ex-wife Melinda at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France.

Talking about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she acknowledged that her split was ultimately “more of a personal thing" but she was always worried about the couple's children.

Melinda French Gates on her children

She said, “I thought a lot about my three children. But I certainly thought about the effect on the foundation. Those are the three biggest buckets: me, the kids, and the foundation. And I wanted to make sure that when we came through it to the other side - when I came through it on my side - all of those pieces were intact.”

Melinda French Gates on life after divorce

She added, “Getting a divorce is a horrible thing. It’s just painful. It’s awful when you realize you need one."

But since the divorce “it has been wonderful. I’ll just leave it there,” she said, adding, “I live in a neighborhood. Now I can walk to little stores. I can walk to the drugstore, I can walk to a restaurant. I absolutely love it.”

Melinda French Gates on her charity work

On exiting the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation after more than two decades to do her own charitable work, she said, “I was just ready to be able to have full decision-making control about where all the funds go."

Melinda French Gates also talked about Bill Gates' friendship with child sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein saying, “I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffery Epstein. I made that clear to him. I also met Jeffrey Epstein exactly one time. I wanted to see who this man was and I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door."