Billionaire Bill Gates admitted he is “ecstatic now” but revealed that his divorce from Melinda French Gates after 27 years of marriage is the “mistake I regret most”.
“The divorce thing was miserable for Melinda and me for at least two years,” Bill told The Times of London on Saturday.
The Microsoft co-founder hoped that his marriage to Melinda would be as successful as his parents Bill Sr. and Mary, who had been together for 45 years.
“There is some satisfaction in spending your entire adult life with one person because of the memories and depth of the things you did and having children together,” Gates said.
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Bill said he would have to put public divorce “at the top of the list” of his failures throughout his life.
“There are others but nothing matters,” the philanthropist added.
The couple met in 1987 during a Microsoft sales meeting when Melinda was a product manager and Bill was the company's CEO.
He reportedly asked her on a date in a parking lot.
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They married on New Year's Day in 1994 and go on to share children Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22.
The 69-year-old said: “When I met Melinda, I was fairly successful but not ridiculously successful – it came during the time we were together.” “So, she saw me a lot.”
In 2021, Bill and Melinda announced their divorce after secretly separating the previous year, saying they could no longer “grow together as a couple in this next stage of life.”
“When we divorced, it was hard, and then she made the decision to leave the foundation — I was disappointed that she made the choice to leave,” Bell said.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a poverty non-profit fighting poverty, disease, and inequality around the world, changed its name to the Gates Foundation when Melinda resigned in 2024 after a few years of split.
Bell admitted he “caused pain” to his family when “Today” host Savannah Guthrie asked the tech leader if infidelity played a role in the divorce during a 2022 interview — but he didn't share many details.
That same year, Melinda went on “CBS Morning” and insinuated that her then-husband's working relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was also a factor in their split.
“I didn’t like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made that clear.” He was obnoxious. He was evil. “
When Melinda, 60, filed divorce papers, Bill was worth $130 billion.
The couple did not have a prenup but did have a “separation agreement” to set the terms of the split.
In 2023, Bell began dating Paula Hurd, former CTO of NCR Global and Widow of Oracle CEO Mark Hurd.
Melinda went public with her boyfriend, businessman Philip Vaughn, in October 2024.
“Melinda and I still see each other – we have three children and two grandchildren so there are family events. The kids are fine. They have good values.
