'A very sad milestone': Bill Gates opens up on divorce

Bill Gates’ divorce is a “very sad milestone”.

The 65-year-old software developer split from Melinda French Gates in May after 27 years of marriage and their divorce was finalised earlier this week,and though he admitted the end of their relationship is a “source of great personal sadness”, he still had a lot of praise for his ex-wife and is happy to keep working with her on their non-profit Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Speaking to Anderson Cooper on CNN, he said: “It’s definitely a very sad milestone. Melinda’s a great person and that partnership we had coming to an end is a source of great personal sadness.

“We are communicating and working on the [Bill & Melinda Gates] Foundation, so that partnership we’re going to try and continue.

“Melinda has incredible strengths that she brings that help the foundation be better. We always enjoyed our work together. That would definitely be the best thing for the foundation.”

Bill – who has 22-year-old son Rory, and daughters Jennifer, 25, and Phoebe, 18, with Melinda – is now ready to “go forward” with his life.

He said: “It’s a time of reflection, and at this point, I need to go forward. Within the family, we’ll heal the best that we can.”

The Microsoft co-founder was also quizzed on his social connection with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – who died in 2019 – and admitted it was a “mistake” to spend time with him.

He said: “I had several dinners with him, you know, hoping that what he said about getting billions of philanthropy for global health through contacts that he had might emerge.

“When it looked like that wasn’t a real thing, that relationship ended.

“But it was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there. There were lots of others in that same situation but I made a mistake.”