Bill Gates calls the divorce of his wife Melinda Gates “the mistake I regret the most”

The billionaire Bill Gates admitted that he was “now happy”, but revealed that his divorce of Melinda French Gates after 27 years of marriage is “the mistake I regret the most”.

“The divorce was a disaster for me and Melinda for at least two years,” Bill told Times on Saturday.

The Microsoft co-founder had hoped that his marriage to Melinda would be as successful as that of his parents Bill Sr. and Mary, who lived together for 45 years.

“It has something wonderful to spend all of your adult life with a person because of the memories and the depth of the things you have done and because of the children together,” said Gates.

Bill said he had to place the public divorce “at the top of the list” of his failures in the course of his life.

“There are others, but none that are important,” added the Philanthrop.

The couple met in 1987 during a Microsoft sales meeting when Melinda was a product manager and Bill CEO of the company.

According to reports, he invited them to a date in a parking lot.

They married on New Year’s Day 1994 and together they received the children Jennifer (28), Rory (25) and Phoebe (22).

“When Melinda and I met, I was pretty successful, but not excessively successful-that came during the time we were together,” said the 69-year-old. “So she often got through me.”

In 2021, Bill and Melinda announced their divorce after they had secretly separated the year before, and said they could “no longer grow together as a couple in this next phase of life”.

“When we were divorced, it was hard and then she made the decision to leave the foundation – I was disappointed that she took the option to leave,” said Bill.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a non -profit organization that struggles against poverty, illness and inequality worldwide, changed its name in The Gates Foundation when Melinda 2024, a few years after the separation.

Bill admitted that he had “inflicted pain” his family when Savannah Guthrie, moderator of the “Today” show, which Tech boss asked in an interview in 2022, asked whether unfaithfulness played a role in divorce-but shared Not too many details.

In the same year, Melinda appeared at “CBS Morning” and indicated that the work relationship of her then husband with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was also a factor for her separation.

“I didn’t like that he had meeting with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made it clear to him, ”said Melinda. “He was hideous. He was evil in person. “

When Melinda, 60, submitted divorce papers, Bill was worth $ 130 billion.

The couple had no marriage contract, but a “separation agreement” to determine the conditions of separation.

In 2023, Bill began to go out with Paula Hurd, a former tech leadership at NCR Global and widow by Oracle-CEO Mark Hurd.

Melinda went to the stock exchange in October 2024 with her friend, the entrepreneur Philip Vaughn.

“Melinda and I still see each other – we have three children and two grandchildren, so there are family events. The children are doing well. You have good values, ”said Bill.