The messy divorce between Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda French Gates has been aired out to the public.
Bill’s ex-wife came clean to CBS News’ Gayle King on Thursday — and she fumed about her former husband’s relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and more.
French Gates said she insisted in a meeting with Epstein in 2011 to learn “who this man was” that her husband was spending time with.
“I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein,” Melinda said of her husband. “I made that clear to him. I also met Jeffrey Epstein exactly one time. I wanted to see who this man was and I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door.”
“He was abhorrent, evil personified,” she said. “I had nightmares about it afterward.”
“That’s why my heart breaks for these young women. That’s how I felt, and I am an older woman. He was awful.”
She said her husband’s meetings with Epstein was one of the causes of her divorce.
“It was not one thing, it was many things [that caused the divorce]. Any of the questions remaining about what Bill’s relationship with him was… those are for Bill to answer,” Melinda said. “I made it very clear how I felt about him.”
Melinda said she and Bill will remain friendly — but not friends — and will continue to work together as co-chairs of their foundation despite their divorce.
When the Gates couple first announced they were separating, the two — to reflect that commitment to continue the Gates Foundation, which they referred to as their “fourth child” — announced an additional $15 billion to the foundation’s endowment, which had stood at nearly $50 billion. It’s the largest private foundation in the world, granting out $5 billion annually for programs in global health, education and other areas.
Questions about the sustainability of the foundation swirled after the couple announced its impeding divorce after 27 years of marriage. The declaration stunned many, including Mark Suzman, the foundation’s CEO who heard about the divorce only 24 hours before it was made public.
“It’s clearly a surprise when the two people whose name is on the building, and who are my bosses, announce they’re getting divorced,” he said. “I think it was a surprise to the foundation staff. But I think we’ve all been adjusting.”
The foundation has also faced scrutiny following recent allegations that Gates pursued women who worked for him at Microsoft Corp., the company he co-founded, and at the foundation. Microsoft decided last year that it wasn’t appropriate for Gates to sit on its board as they investigated the billionaire’s prior romantic relationship with a female Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate.
‘”Those are questions Bill needs to answer,” French Gates told CBS News when asked how many affairs her ex-husband had.
“I believe in forgiveness. I thought we had worked through some of that,” she said about an affair in 2000. “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.”
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.