Melinda Gates ‘rolled her eyes’ when told her ex-husband Bill said their divorce was a mistake that he regretted most.
The former tech power couple, who tied the knot in 1994, welcomed three kids into the world but divorced after 27 years of marriage under the cloud of the Microsoft co-founder’s working relationship with pedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
In an interview with Elle, the 60-year-old was asked about recent comments by her ex husband, 69, that said their divorce was ‘at the top of the list’ of his failures.
‘You’ve clearly Googled more than I have’, she told the magazine before reportedly rolled her eyes.
‘Look, divorces are painful, and it’s not something I would wish on any family,’ she added.
‘But again, I knew when I got divorced, I would be okay on my own. And I think that was the most important thing.’
The apparent shade comes after her husband told the Times in January that there were ‘other’ mistakes he’d made in the past but didn’t matter, but that his divorce was ‘the mistake I most regret’.
‘The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years’, he said, adding that their marriage had kept him ‘grounded’ as he brought his company to life.
Melinda, seen here in 2021, reportedly rolled her eyes when asked about Bill’s comments on their divorce
The billionaire Microsoft co-founder told the Times in January that the divorce was his biggest mistake
Bill Gates is pictured at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in 2011
The pair are now amicable, but rumors of infidelity plagued Bill in the immediate aftermath of the divorce announcement.
‘I certainly made mistakes, and I take responsibility,’ he said in 2023, without expanding.
Bill said they see each other often at family events and gatherings as they share three kids, Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22, and two grandchildren.
‘Melinda and I still see each other – we have three kids and two grandchildren so there are family events. The kids are doing well. They have good values,’ Bill said.
Melinda said time apart during the COVID-19 pandemic gave her clarity on the state of their marriage.
‘It gave us the privacy to do what needed to be done in private,’ she said during a June 2024 interview.
Like her ex-husband, she admitted the divorce was the ‘lowest moment’ in her life but that it was the ‘healthier choice’ for her family.
She has since moved on with tech mogul Philip Vaughn.
Melinda Gates and Bill Gates attend The Robin Hood Foundation’s 2018 benefit at Jacob Javitz Center on May 14, 2018 in New York City
Previously, Gates has said that she and Bill are not friends but are ‘friendly’ and work together, while hinting that he had more than one affair throughout their marriage.
‘Those are questions Bill needs to answer,’ she said when asked about reports he cheated multiple times. He previously acknowledged one affair.
‘I believe in forgiveness. I thought we had worked through some of that,’ Melinda said of his 2000 affair with a Microsoft employee.
‘I gave every single piece of myself to this marriage. I was committed from the day we got engaged to the day I got out of it.’
Gates’ spokeswoman confirmed he had a sexual relationship with a female staff member in 2000.
He resigned as an investigation into the relationship was being conducted by an external law firm on behalf of the company board.
The New York Times also reported that Gates asked out a Microsoft employee in 2006 after watching her make a presentation.
He reportedly told the employee in an email: ‘If this makes you uncomfortable, pretend it never happened.’ She said she took his advice.
Melinda said time apart during the COVID-19 pandemic gave her clarity on the state of their marriage. They are seen here in New York City in 1998
The pair married in 1994 and separated secretly in May 2020. They announced their split the following year. They are pictured in 2000
A couple of years later, he allegedly asked out an employee with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to dinner, while the pair were in New York for a trip.
Both instances where while he was still married.
During a 2022 interview with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie, Bill divulged his guilt and took responsibility for his action.
‘I certainly made mistakes, and I take responsibility,’ he said, adding, ‘I don’t think delving into the particulars at this point is constructive, but yes, I caused pain, and I feel terrible about that.’
Intermixed with Gates’ extramarital liaisons is scrutiny around his relationship with Epstein, the pedophile financier who took his own life in 2019 while jailed on charges of sex trafficking minors.
Bill insisted that the pair never had ‘any business relationship or friendship’ and their meetings were solely to discuss philanthropic ventures.
Bill Gates is pictured at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in 2011, from left: Jes Staley, at the time a senior JPMorgan executive; former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; Epstein; Gates and Boris Nikolic, who was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s science adviser
Bill Gates was pictured with his girlfriend Paula Hurd at this year’s so-called billionaire’s summer camp in Sun Valley, Idaho, in the summer
But Melinda said her ex-husband’s closeness to the predator put considerable strain on the marriage.
‘I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made that clear to him,’ she told American television personality, Gayle King in 2022.
‘He was abhorrent. He was evil personified,’ Melinda said of the convicted felon.
The Gates’ divorce settlement is America’s second-most expensive ever after Jeff Bezos’ $38.3billion split with ex-wife MacKenzie Bezos.
Melinda has been dating tech mogul Philip Vaughn since October 2024, after she was spotted with the Seattle-based entrepreneur as they went to dinner in New York City.
Despite going through an ‘unbelievably painful’ divorce with Bill, Melinda put tensions aside when it came to Philip, who used to work at her ex’s company.
Bill has been dating Paula Hurd since 2023. Hurd is the widow of former Oracle co-CEO and president Mark Hurd, who died at the age of 62 in 2019 after a reported battle with cancer.
Once a tech executive herself, Hurd is now an event planner and organizer, and philanthropist.
