Why Bill Gates Is Really Getting Divorced
We're learning more about the past few years for Melinda and Bill Gates, and it doesn't paint a pretty picture.
This article is more than 2 years old
Melinda French Gates began talking to lawyers about the possibility of a divorce in late 2019. At this time, a few things were happening around Bill Gates that are now being made known and causing many to wonder about why the pair are truly divorcing. One such matter involves a Microsoft engineer who wrote a letter detailing a romantic relationship they allege took place over several years. The Microsoft board hired a law firm to investigate the matter. He resigned from the board before that investigation was completed. Around this same time, Jeffrey Epstein died. Melinda French Gates was reportedly unhappy with her husband’s dealings with the convicted sex offender. How much did these events play into her decision to explore a divorce settlement?
On the issue of the affair Bill Gates had with a Microsoft engineer, a spokesperson for the tech billionaire issued a statement to the Wall Street Journal. “There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably,” they confirmed, adding that his “decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter. In fact, he had expressed an interest in spending more time on his philanthropy starting several years earlier.”
It’s true that he has spent a lot of time and money on efforts for charity. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is well-known around the world. However, it seems to be overreaching to suggest that exposing this affair, even one twenty years prior, would not be a factor in anyway for Bill Gates. Whether we’re talking about his relationship with the Microsoft board or his relationship with his wife, an investigation into a romantic relationship with an employee is going to matter. That news drawing public attention is not a small issue for a public figure.
And then there is Jeffrey Epstein. While many powerful people were revealed to be connected to Epstein, the particularly disturbing issue with Bill Gates is that he began a relationship after Epstein was first convicted of sex crimes. Gates reportedly first met with the sex offender in 2011, after Epstein had served 13 months for soliciting prostitution from underage girls. Gates told the public that he never attended any of Epstein’s parties. That he only ever met with Epstein when it was him and other men, never women or girls. He said that they were not friends or business partners. Gates claims that he met with Epstein because he was told that Epstein knows a lot of rich people and he seemed like a good connection to make in order to raise more money for his philanthropic efforts.
According to The Daily Beast, Melinda French Gates was furious about the growing relationship between Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein. She warned Gates to cut off that connection. He didn’t. He reportedly met with Epstein several times over the years and even spent a night in the sex offender’s mansion. Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019. His death was determined to be a suicide.
According to reports, from 2013 to 2019, Melinda French Gates was unhappy about her husband’s relationship with Epstein. Then, there was the investigation from the Microsoft Board into the romance between Bill Gates and an employee in 2019. It seems like a stretch to believe that both of these events happening in 2019 didn’t play into her decision to begin the conversation with lawyers about a divorce. Their joint public statement claimed they could no longer grow together. These sound like the kind of differences that may have contributed to her feeling that way.
