‘This is Painful Stuff’: Melinda Gates to Open Up About What Led to 2021 Divorce From Bill
21:40 GMT 02.03.2022 (Updated: 21:41 GMT 02.03.2022)
© AP Photo / Michel Euler
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In a recent interview with “CBS Mornings,” Melinda French Gates, 56, shared her insight regarding her much talked about divorce from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, 65, after a marriage of 27 years. Opening up about what led to the divorce, she detailed that she just “couldn’t trust what we had.”
To the shock of many, one of the wealthiest - and apparently one of the most stable - couples in the world announced their divorce in May 2021. The philanthropists and co-founders of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation announced their decision to split in a joint statement.
“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” the couple announced on Twitter on May 3. “We 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.”
Gates is now opening up about what led to her divorce from the Microsoft co-founder, and her experience after the slow-burning intimate calamity. The interview, with Gayle King on the “CBS Mornings” show, is set to air on Thursday, but a teaser of what’s to come is already being dissected.
“I certainly believe in forgiveness, so I thought we had worked through some of that. It wasn’t one moment or one specific thing that happened. There just came a point in time where there was enough there that I realized it just wasn’t healthy, and I couldn’t trust what we had,” Gates said in reference to an affair her ex-husband had with a Microsoft employee in 2000.
The affair became public knowledge once Bill Gates confirmed the assignation through a spokesperson for the company in 2019, leading to Microsoft’s board, aided by an outside law firm, conducting an investigation into the tryst.
Bill Gates stepped down from Microsoft’s board in March 2020, but a spokesperson denies the investigation played a role in the former’s departure.
The Microsoft co-founder reportedly has a net worth of $131.4 billion, making him currently the fourth richest man in the world. Of their divorce he stated in 2021 that it was the “most unusual and difficult year of my life,” noting that they had continued to work together as philanthropists.
“I had a lot of tears for many days, I mean, days where I’m literally laying on the floor and the carpet is close to me,” Melinda Gates said of their public split, “and I’m literally thinking, ‘How can this be? How can I get up? How am I gonna move forward?’”
“You're grieving a loss of something you thought...you had for your lifetime”: In an exclusive interview with @GayleKing, Melinda French Gates opens up about the grieving process after she ended her marriage with Bill Gates.
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) March 2, 2022
Watch the full interview tomorrow on #CBSMornings. pic.twitter.com/iDt8u14pu4
“That’s part of the grieving process. You’re grieving a loss of something you thought you had and thought you had for your lifetime. I mean, this is painful stuff,” she said. Melinda Gates, in one striking article detailing the fallout from the split, is now said to be worth at least $11 billion.
But the global advocate for women and girls is looking on the brighter side of things.
“I do feel like I’m turning a page in the chapter,” she said. “I mean, it’s 2022, and I’m actually really excited about what’s to come and life ahead for me.”
