'He Was Evil Personified': Melinda Gates Addresses Jeffrey Epstein's Friendship With Ex-Husband Bill

© REUTERS / ANDREAS GEBERTAmerican businessman Bill Gates gestures during the annual Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany February 18, 2022.
American businessman Bill Gates gestures during the annual Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany February 18, 2022. - Sputnik International, 1920, 04.03.2022
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Melinda French Gates, the billionaire philanthropist who married Bill Gates in 1994, opened up about what led to her shocking divorce last year in a candid interview with CBS Mornings Gayle King. Melinda says her ex-husband's friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein played a role in their divorce.
It wasn't one thing but "many things" that led to their divorce, Melinda said in the interview when King asked her about Bill Gates' friendship with Epstein.

"I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made that clear to him", Melinda said. "I also met Jeffrey Epstein exactly one time, because I wanted to see who this man was, and I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door. He was abhorrent. He was evil personified".

"He was awful", she added. "I had nightmares about it afterward".
When King asked Melinda if Bill, the co-founder of Microsoft, continued to share correspondence with Epstein, she seemed resolved to not make an excuse for her ex-husband. "Any of the questions remaining about their relationship, those are for Bill to answer".
Bill Gates, 66, released a statement to CBS saying, "Meeting with Epstein was a mistake that I regret deeply. It was a substantial error in judgment".
Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted paedophile who died in jail via suicide at the age of 66, while waiting on additional child sex trafficking charges that would've placed him in jail without bail for 45 years.
The disgraced multimillionaire financier was connected to a string of high-profile individuals, some of which the victims said they were forced to perform sex acts with, including former Maine Senator George Mitchell, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, money manager Glenn Dubin, and MIT Professor Marvin Minksy.
Other celebrities whose names are connected to Epstein include: former US President Bill Clinton, former US President Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and actor Kevin Spacey, all of whom Epstein's former pilot testified flew on Epstein's private plane.
Beginning in 2011, Bill Gates met with Epstein on a number of different occasions, including at Epstein's townhouse where it was reported that Gates stayed "late into the night". Epstein and Gates had also discussed a possible charitable fund involving the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a key asset in Melinda Gates' life and career.
"His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me", Bill Gates emailed colleagues in 2011, after he first met Epstein.
In the interview, Melinda Gates addressed her ex-husband's affair with a Microsoft colleague in 2000. The affair became public knowledge in 2019 and led to an internal corporate investigation. Melinda Gates believed they had gotten past the affair prior to their divorce.

"I certainly believe in forgiveness, so I thought we had worked through some of that", she said. "There just came a point in time where there was enough there where I realised it just wasn't healthy, and I couldn't trust what we had".

In May 2021 the pair announced that they would split and finalised their divorce the following August. The news interviewer asked if Gates felt as if the divorce was her fault. She said she had been committed to her marriage from the day she and Bill became engaged, to the day of their divorce.
"I don't question myself now. Not at all. I gave every single piece of myself to this marriage. I was committed to this marriage from the day we got engaged and until the day I got out of it", she explained.
According to Melinda Gates, she and her ex are not "friends" but are "friendly". She says she does not wish her ex-husband any ill will, and that the two will continue to work together on their Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation charity.

"If you're lucky enough to be a billionaire, believe me you can give away half of it and not change your life. And you should".

Melinda's current net worth is reported to be at least $11 billion. Her ex, the Microsoft co-founder, reportedly has a net worth of $131.4 billion, currently making him 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".
Melinda says despite experiencing "lots of tears for many days", she's excited about 2022, and is open to dating and falling in love again. When asked if she had started dating, she told King she is "dipping her toe in that water".
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