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The split between Bill and Melinda Gates caught many by surprise. After being together for 27 years, parenting three kids, and founding the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, their relationship appeared to be unbreakable. The Microsoft co-creator stunned everyone with the declaration that they were separating after almost three decades of marriage in a tweet on May 3, 2021.
“After considerable deliberation and much effort devoted to our partnership, we’ve concluded to dissolve our marriage,” he stated in the joint announcement. “Throughout the past 27 years, we’ve nurtured three outstanding offspring and established a foundation that operates globally to empower all to lead wholesome, fruitful lives. We will continue to share confidence in that purpose and will proceed with our collaboration at the [Gates] foundation, yet we no longer have faith that we can evolve as a couple during the subsequent chapter of our lives.” He concluded the announcement by requesting privacy as they endeavor to “navigate this fresh existence.”
Even though the former pair seem to be moving on cordially, numerous individuals were curious as to what triggered the breakup — particularly now that Bill’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein became a prominent story. Ahead, Hollywood Life analyzes the factors that contributed to the divorce of the longstanding influential duo.
How Long Were Bill & Melinda Gates Married?
Bill and Melinda Gates first encountered each other in 1987 when she started her role as a product director there. The two became engaged in 1993 and tied the knot in Hawaii in 1994. They made their separation public in 2021 after nearly three decades as husband and wife. Their divorce was ultimately finalized months later in August of 2021. During their union, they had three children — Jennifer, Phoebe, and Rory, and established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, from which Melinda stepped down in 2024.
Almost four years following their parting, Bill discussed the previous marriage in an open interview with The Times of London. “There is a certain joy to devoting your entire adult life with a single individual because of the recollections and magnitude of things you’ve accomplished and having children together,” he mentioned in the interview, released on January 25.
Why Did Bill Gates Get Divorced from Melinda?
During a 2022 discussion with Gayle King on CBS Mornings, Melinda shared that while Bill had admitted to an extramarital affair with a Microsoft employee two decades prior, there “wasn’t one occasion or one definite thing that occurred” to instigate the split. “There just arrived a moment in time where there was sufficient there that I understood it just wasn’t healthy, and I couldn’t have faith in what we possessed,” she clarified. “I surely have faith in absolution, so I believed we had addressed some of that.”
An insider revealed to People at that time that Bill’s transgression hadn’t been a complete revelation to the mother of three. “Melinda was conscious that there were some problems, but it’s uncertain if she knew about all of it,” the source reportedly informed the publication in 2021. In a different May 2021 report, a source confided in the outlet that the former couple “drifted apart.”
“He could have been better to Melinda,” the source alleged. “He isn’t a saint, but there isn’t a singular factor that resulted in the final breakup. It is more profound than that. It’s numerous years of differing outlooks on the world, the foundation, and of existence in general, and those elements accumulating. They are older and each individually contemplated existence and questioned, ‘Is there more beyond what I have?’”
During his January 2025 interview with The Times of London, Bill expressed that he considered the divorce “the error I most lament.”
Does Bill Gates Have a Girlfriend?
Bill verified a romantic involvement with Paula Hurd, the bereaved partner of Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd, in February of 2023. The pair had been spotted together considerably earlier, nevertheless, as they appeared together for a date at the Laver cup in September of 2022.
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Bill Gates, Melinda Gates. Bill and Melinda Gates are interviewed in Kirkland, Wash. The couple, whose foundation has the largest endowment in the world, are pushing back against a new wave of criticism about whether billionaire philanthropy is a force for good. They said they're not fazed by recent blowback against wealthy giving, including viral moments at the World Economic Forum and the shifting political conversation about taxes and socialismBill Gates Philanthropy Criticism, Kirkland, USA – 31 Jan 2019