Melinda Gates and Bill Gates
Kevin Mazur/Getty ImagesBill Gates looks back on his divorce from Melinda Gates after more than two decades together.
“That was the mistake I regret the most,” Bill, 69, said Times of London from his previous marriage in a profile posted on Saturday, January 25, adding that despite his disappointment, he feels “more cheerful now.”
Bill and Melinda, 60, confirmed their separation in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage. The couple, who married in 1994, share three children: Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe.
Speaking of The TimesBill noted that he originally “absolutely” wanted to replicate his parents’ 45-year union with Melinda.
“I encouraged Melinda to be a little more relaxed than my mom, but we were both pretty tense,” he told the publication. “I spent more time with the kids than my dad, but the ratio was still 10:1, with Melinda doing most of the things for the kids. We had a great time.”
The tech mogul added: “There’s a certain charm to spending your whole adult life with one person because of the memories and the depth of the things you’ve done and having children together. When Melinda and I met, I was quite successful, but not absurdly so – that came during our time together. So she’s seen me through a lot.
Bill and Melinda met in 1987 when she started working at his Microsoft corporation. After they married, the former couple founded a joint non-profit organization of the same name. Melinda left the organization after the couple’s divorce.
Billionaire Melinda Gates, one of the richest people in the world, has announced that she has left her and ex-husband Bill Gates’ foundation. “After careful consideration and reflection, I have decided to step down from my role as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” Melinda, 59, wrote in a lengthy statement on Instagram on Monday, May (…)
“When we divorced, it was difficult and then she made the decision to leave the foundation – I was disappointed that she took the option to leave,” Bill recalls of The Times.
He also cited the divorce — which was settled in August 2021. — as one of his biggest failures in adulthood.
“You have to put that at the top of the list,” Bill said of his list of flaws. “There are others, but it doesn’t matter. The divorce was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years.
After their breakup, Bill and Melinda are put aside any personal problems they may have in order to peacefully parent their now grown children.
“Melinda and I still see each other – we have three children and two grandchildren, so there are family events,” Bill told the British newspaper. “The kids are doing well. They have good values.”
Melinda has been open about healing from a breakup before.
“It’s incredibly painful, in countless ways, but I’ve had the privacy to go through it,” she said Happiness in October 2022 “I’ve also continued to work with the person I was drifting away from, and I have to show up and be my best self every day. So even though I might be crying at 9am and then have to be on a video conference at 10am with the person I’m leaving, I have to show up and be my best. And I’ve learned as a leader that I can do that.
