Melinda Gates Responds to Bill Gates Calling Their Divorce a Mistake

Melinda French Gates has framed her divorce from Bill Gates in starkly different terms after he called it the mistake he most regrets. Asked by Elle about Bill ranking their divorce as his biggest “failure,” Melinda remained unmoved.

“You’ve clearly Googled more than I have,” Melinda said in the interview, which was published on Monday, reportedly rolling her eyes. “Look, divorces are painful, and it’s not something I would wish on any family.”

She added, “But again, I knew when I got divorced, I would be OK on my own. And I think that was the most important thing.”

According to Elle, the philanthropist said leaving her marriage was both one of the hardest and most important things she’s ever done.

It’s a stark contrast to the tone the Microsoft co-founder struck in a January interview with The Times, where he called their 2021 divorce after 27 years of marriage “miserable.”

Asked if the failed marriage was his only failure in life, he didn’t hesitate: “You would have to put that at the top of the list. There are others but none that matter.”

Bill publicly acknowledged an extramarital affair with a Microsoft employee in 2019. When asked if his infidelity played a role in their divorce in an appearance on Today in 2022, he admitted, “I caused pain, and I feel terrible about that.”

Bill’s association with the late Jeffrey Epstein—even after the disgraced financier pled guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor—didn’t sit well with Melinda either.

“I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made that clear to him,” Melinda said on CBS Mornings in 2022. “He was abhorrent. He was evil personified.”

In the January interview with The Times, Bill expressed disappointment that their marriage, in which they welcomed three children, didn’t mirror the lifelong partnership of his parents.

“There is a certain wonderfulness to spending your entire adult life with one person because of the memories and depth of things you have done and having kids together,” he said.

The ex-couple, both billionaires, have since found love with other people. Melinda is linked to entrepreneur Philip Vaughn, while Bill is in a relationship with former tech executive Paula Hurd.