Melinda Gates Says Her Divorce From Microsoft Billionaire Bill Gates Was ‘Necessary’

Philanthropist Melinda Gates said that her divorce from Bill Gates was “necessary.”

Melinda and Bill were divorced in 2021 after 27 years together. In January, Bill said in an interview that he ranked his divorce with Melinda, following their decades-long relationship, as “at the top of the list” of his greatest failures.

Melinda has now responded to the comments in an interview with The New York Times. “If you can’t live your values out inside your most intimate relationship, it was necessary,” she said. “I don’t even quite know what to make of [Bill’s] statement, so I’m not going to comment on what he says. He’s got his own life. I have my life now. I am very happy.”

Revealing that she started to experience panic attacks while in the relationship with Bill, Melinda said, “When you’re leaving a marriage, it’s very, very hard. And the negotiations were tough.” She shared that she began to see a therapist due to the stress. Although she originally didn’t think of herself as the right type of person for therapy, the process helped her come to the understanding that, “No, it doesn’t mean I’m damaged. It means I’ve been through some difficult things that I need to figure out.”

Melinda and Bill share three children: Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22. Since 2022, Bill has been married to Paula Hurd. Melinda has stayed single and said that she has enjoyed her time dating, saying, “I have so many friends introduce me to people, and it’s been lovely.”

When asked whether or not she had found men to be intimidated by her status, Gates responded, “I’m sure some are and some aren’t. But I’m not really looking for somebody who would be intimidated by my status. That kind of rules them out, right?”

In addition to an affair, he admitted to in 2021, Bill had an established relationship with convicted criminal Jeffrey Epstein, which reportedly played a role in their divorce. In 2022, Melinda told Gayle King on CBS Mornings that she had met Epstein “exactly one time” and was deeply “unsettled” by him. 

On April 14, Melinda appeared on Good Morning America to promote her upcoming memoir The Next Day, a portion of which addresses her separation from Gates.

Remarking on why she chose to speak about their relationship in the book, Gates said, “It was important because if I’m going to be my most authentic self, people knew I had gone through it.”

“[Divorce is] hard on any family, so I write from my perspective…But it’s not something I would wish on anybody — and unfortunately, so many families go through it. It is a big transition. And for me, while it was painful for sure, I ended up learning some lessons, and there was some growth in there, too.

“I’m learning that there’s still a lot of play and so much joy in life.”