Bill Gates has quite the legacy, and as well as being the co-founder of Microsoft, he's also remembered as the world's youngest-ever self-made billionaire. While Gates has long since slipped from his place as the world's richest man, his impressive net worth of $106.1 billion means he's not exactly short of a dollar or two.
Helping found the Giving Pledge with Warren Buffett, Gates has vowed to give away (nearly) all of his money and leave his children with just $10 million each. As the Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin sang in "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves", “Behind every great man. There had to be a great woman." In Bill Gates' case, that's Melinda French Gates, who was married to the tech billionaire for 27 years from 1994 until 2021.
Melinda has revealed all in her book, The Next Day, and speaking to People in advance of its release, the former Mrs. Bill Gates has revealed the 'betrayals' she faced over the years.
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Even though the pair had faced problems before, things apparently came to a head in 2019 when Melinda kept having nightmares about a house collapsing around her.
Accusing her subconscious of being a bit 'obvious' she said: "Bill has publicly acknowledged that he wasn’t always faithful to me."
She goes on to mention a 'deeply disturbing' 2019 article that linked Gates to Jeffrey Epstein, with Bill Gates more recently calling those meetings a mistake and admitting he was "foolish to spend any time" with the financier.
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Her house dream then reportedly transformed into one where her, her husband, and their three children stood on the edge of a cliff as she 'plummeted' into the void. She says: "As dramatic as it sounds. I knew, in that moment, that I was going to have to make a decision—and that I was going to have to make it by myself."
She recalls inviting Bill on a 2020 trip to New Mexico that she planned on spending alone, then realized the house was only available because the previous occupants had separated.
Despite it being "like any other vacation," she told him on the last night how she wanted them to live separately. Melinda French Gates was going to stay at home with their youngest daughter: "It was one of the scariest conversations I’d have had."
While her husband was understandably 'sad and upset', she reiterated Bill was 'understanding and respectful'.
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Only a select few knew about the split as they continued to work on the global Gates Foundation, but ultimately, she told him she wanted a divorce that summer. Admitting she knew it would be tough, Melinda reminds everyone: "Bill has a reputation for being one of the toughest negotiators in the world."
She concluded by saying that although she felt like her inner voice had faded "in the decade or so before my marriage fell apart," she thanks therapy because it "made it possible for me to respond to the betrayals in my marriage without betraying myself in return."
Ultimately, Melinda French Gates says that it's not her place to say why they divorced in 2021, arguing that it should be Bill who discloses it.