Melinda French Gates spoke about the exact moment she told her ex-husband, Bill Gates, that she wanted to start living separately in an interview published Wednesday.
The former power couple took a vacation to New Mexico together in February 2020, and Melinda decided to let Bill know her feelings at the end of the trip, she told People magazine.
“It was one of the scariest conversations I’d have had,” she said, describing Bill as “sad and upset” but also “understanding and respectful.”
After months of separation, French Gates told her husband that summer that she officially wanted a divorce, according to People. They publicly announced their split in May the following year.
French Gates also describes “betrayals” in her marriage in her new book, “The Next Day,” writing that “Bill has publicly acknowledged that he wasn’t always faithful to me.”
When asked about cheating rumors in 2022, the Microsoft co-founder admitted that he made “mistakes” and “caused pain” to Melinda. He described their divorce earlier this year as the mistake he “most regret[s].”
“You would have to put that at the top of the list,” he told The Times of London in January. “There are other [failures] but none that matter. The divorce was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years.”
Meanwhile, Melinda told People that while “it takes courage forging a different life, when you change paths, you realize, oh, it’s a big opening.”
In May of last year, she stepped down from her role at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation after 24 years, saying the time had come for her to “move forward into the next chapter of my philanthropy.”
She subsequently announced a commitment to give away $1 billion in grants to advance women’s power and influence around the world.
