Melinda Gates opens up about divorce with Bill Gates: ‘Unbelievably painful, in innumerable ways’

Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates, who were married for nearly three decades, announced their divorce in May 2021 which was eventually finalised in August that year. Despite the separation, the couple continues to run their foundation — the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — together. However, her “unbelievably painful’ divorce hasn’t been easy for Melinda, something she recently opened up about in a new interview.
“I had some reasons; I just couldn’t stay in that marriage anymore,” she told Fortune. “But the odd thing about Covid is that it gave me the privacy to do what I needed to do. It’s unbelievably painful, in innumerable ways, but I had the privacy to get through it.”
Buy Now | Our best subscription plan now has a special price
Reflecting on the difficulty to continue working with her ex-husband, the philanthrop added, “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. So even though I might be crying at 9 AM and then have to be on a video conference at 10 AM with the person I’m leaving, I have to show up and be my best.”

This helped Melinda learn that “as a leader, I could do it”.
She also revealed that her “main concern” during this turbulent time was protecting their three children – Jennifer (25), Rory (23) and Phoebe (19). “My main concern, of course, was trying to protect my kids through it. And we got to the other side,” she said.

According to the former computer scient, she felt like she “needed to take a different path”. “We knew that the divorce was going to be a surprise to people, and I felt bad about that. I don’t question myself now. Not at all. I gave every single piece of myself to this marriage. I was committed to this marriage from the day we got engaged and until the day I got out of it.”
📣 For more lifestyle news, follow us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook and don’t miss out on the latest updates!