Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently opened up on his divorce with Melinda French. In an interview with the Times of London, the billionaire stated that ending the 27 years of marriage with Melinda was a mistake and he ‘regrets it the most’.
Bill Gates, 69, is currently dating Paula Hurd, 62, the widow of Oracle CEO Mark Hudd. Meanwhile, Melinda, 60, has also moved on and is now with her entrepreneur-boyfriend Philip Vaughn.
Bill Gates met Melinda for the first time in 1987 when she joined Microsoft as a product manager. The connection was instant. When the romance got serious. Gates made a pro/con list for whether he should propose, and the couple finally decided to set out for the journey. The former couple got married in 1994 in Hawaii. The same year, they founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to combating global poverty and disease in 2000.
But did you know Bill Gates once said, Melinda had many boyfriends? Yes, that’s right. If so, why does the billionaire regret the divorce? Well, before you jump to conclusions, you should also know the context of Gates’ initial statement.
In the 2019 Netflix docu-series, ‘Inside Bill’s Brain’, the former couple confessed that their relationship was rather casual for both of them when they started dating.
“She had other boyfriends, and I had Microsoft,” Bill says. “We were like, ‘Hey we are not really serious about each other, are we? We are not going to demand each other’s time.’”
Melinda too expressed that she was “new to Microsoft, there were a lot of men there and… you are still looking around.”
Despite being married for 27 years, Bill Gates and Melinda decided to part ways in 2021. In a joint statement shared on social media in May, 2021, they said, “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives. We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”
Melinda has earlier told the Times that the divorce was ‘hard’ and ‘painful’.
In the recent interview, Gates expressed that he regrets the decision to divorce the most. “When Melinda and I met, I was fairly successful but not ridiculously successful — that came during the time that we were together. So, she saw me through a lot. When we got divorced it was tough and then she made the decision to leave the foundation — I was disappointed that she took the option to go off,” Bill Gates said.
He added, “Melinda and I still see each other — we have three kids and two grandchildren so there are family events. The kids are doing well. They have good values.”
When asked if divorce was his only failure in life, Gates said, “You would have to put that at the top of the list. There are others but none that matter.”
Bill and Melinda Gates have three children – Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe. Their eldest child, Jennifer (28) and her husband, Nayel Nassar are parents to Leila and Mia. Rory John Gates was born in 1999 while Phoebe Adele Gates in 2002.
(Pic courtesy: X)
