Tech giant Bill Gates did not hold back when reflecting on the end of his 27-year marriage to Melinda French Gates.
Calling the divorce his greatest regret, Gates described the experience as profoundly painful in a new interview.
“The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years,” he said in a Jan. 25 sit-down with The Times of London, reflecting on the emotional toll it took on both of them.
When asked about his failures, Gates did not hesitate to rank it as his most significant.
“The divorce belongs at the top of the list,” he stated. “There are others but none that matter.”
“That was the mistake I most regret,” he added.
The couple’s love story began in 1987 when Gates, then leading the rise of Microsoft, asked Melinda out after a company sales meeting. Their relationship blossomed, and they were married on New Year’s Day in 1994.
Over the years, they built a family, raising three children — Jennifer, 28; Rory, 25; and Phoebe, 22 — while also working together to create a lasting impact on the world through their philanthropic efforts.
Gates spoke fondly of their time together, highlighting the deep connection they shared.
“There is a certain wonderfulness to spending your entire adult life with one person because of the memories and depth of things you have done and having kids together,” he said.
He, then, credited Melinda as a stabilizing force during some of the most challenging and successful periods of his career.
The Harvard drop-out said, “When Melinda and I met, I was fairly successful but not ridiculously successful — that came during the time that we were together.”
However, Page Six reports, in 2020 the pair quietly separated and announced their divorce in 2021.
The divorce, finalized in 2024, was surrounded by speculation and controversy, including Gates’ controversial ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
In an interview with CBS Morning, Melinda, who once referred to Epstein as “evil personified,” had reportedly expressed her disapproval of Gates’ association with him.
Gates acknowledged that his actions had caused pain, though he refrained from going into details.
When pressed about potential infidelity during a separate interview with the “Today Show” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, he admitted, “I certainly made mistakes and I take responsibility. I caused pain, and I feel terrible about that.”
The fallout from the divorce extended beyond their personal lives, significantly affecting their professional partnership.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a joint effort to combat global poverty and disease, underwent a rebranding following the split. Melinda resigned in 2024, and the organization was renamed The Gates Foundation, signaling the end of their collaborative era.
When Melinda, then-60, filed for divorce, Bill Gates had an estimated net worth of $130 billion. While the high-profile couple didn’t have a prenuptial agreement in place, they did iron out the details of their split through a “separation agreement” that outlined how their massive wealth would be divided.
Currently, he is worth $107 billion, according to Forbes.
Melinda walked away from the marriage with $12.5 billion, based on the agreement, Philanthropy.com reported.
Despite the challenges, Gates emphasized that he and Melinda remain connected through their shared role as parents and grandparents.
“Melinda and I still see each other — we have three kids and two grandchildren, so there are family events,” said the grandfather. “The kids are doing well. They have good values.”
Bill Gates, who held the title of one of the world’s richest men from 1995 to 2017, holding the No. 1 spot 18 out of the 23 years, has embarked on a new romantic journey.
He began dating Paula Hurd, widow of former Oracle CEO Mark Hurd, in 2023.
Meanwhile, his ex-wife Melinda has also moved on, going public with entrepreneur Philip Vaughn in October 2024.
Vaughn is founder and executive chairman of Tavour, an app that provides craft beer delivery services. He also worked at Microsoft for nearly nine years, starting in 1999 as a senior consultant before moving into the role of program manager less than two years later. By 2005, Vaughn became the group program manager at the company, which was his final position before leaving in 2008.
In October, Melinda and Philip were reportedly spotted smiling and holding hands while hopping off of a helicopter before getting into their SUV, prompting fans to cheer on the newfound love
“Happy for her. She’s philanthropic, great mom, bright and deserves the best,” one person commented at the time.
These days Bill Gates, 69, reflects on his success, candidly acknowledging the privileges that shaped his life.
“You don’t end up with a Microsoft result, being on top of the world, unless an unbelievable number of things converge: the year I am born, the way my parents are, being a white male in the United States, having a grandmother shaping my competitive vibe, teachers who said, ‘Your kid is weird but smart,’ my marriage to Melinda,” he explained.
Gates describes his marriage in glowing terms, but in the end the Windows software pioneer saw that system crash after 30 years.
