Melinda French Gates on divorce with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates: It’s just painful…

Bill Gates divorced Melinda French Gates in 2021. Years later, Melinda French Gates has opened up about her divorce with the Microsoft co-founder. In an interview with Time Magazine recently, she described the end of 27-years marriage as ‘a painful and horrible experience’.

“Getting a divorce is a horrible thing. It’s just painful. It’s awful when you realize you need one,” she said. Although later she corrected 'horrible' to 'hard', but added that things are wonderful now that it’s over.

In the interview, Melinda French Gates also talked about how getting divorced in a pandemic helped the couple get privacy. “It gave us the privacy to do what needed to be done in private," she told the publication.

She also reflected on being able to navigate the process while taking care of children. “You know, I separated first before I made the full decision about a divorce. And to be able to do that in private while I’m still trying to take care of the kids, while still making certain decisions about how you’re going to disentangle your life - thank God," she said.

Melinda stepped from Gates foundation after the divorce

The divorce led her to step away from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in May this year, three years after the divorce. During the interview, she told Time that she thought about the effect of divorce on the foundation.

"I thought a lot about my three children. But I certainly thought about the effect on the foundation. Those are the three biggest buckets: me, the kids, and the foundation. And I wanted to make sure that when we came through it to the other side - all of those pieces were intact.”

Melinda also explained that she does not see her decision to exit the foundation as ‘downsizing’. “I don’t see it honestly as a downsizing ...I was just ready to be able to have full decision-making control about where all the funds go,” she said.