Philanthropist Melinda French Gates is considered one of the most influential women in the world. But her massive wealth did not spare her from the pain of divorce from ex-husband Bill Gates.
Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, tied the knot in 1994, according to CBS News. They were great partners and had established a humanitarian foundation that helped improve lives across the world. But after almost 30 years of marriage, the power couple decided to end their union in 2021, which became one of the hottest stories in the media.
In an interview with "CBS Mornings," the former computer scientist disclosed that divorce never crossed her mind, which is why she dealt with a lot of pain after the publicized split was finalized in August last year.
French Gates Talks About Moving On
French Gates admitted that she asked herself, "How am I going to move forward?" And there were days when she felt "angry," which was part of her "grieving process" for something she thought she would never lose, per USA Today.
"You're grieving a loss of something you thought you had and thought you had for your lifetime," she said.
Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world, admits to having an affair after the divorce was made public. French Gates stated that she had hoped they would settle their differences but realized she really could not trust what they had.
French Gates said she "needed to take a different path," and the former lovers knew that their divorce would shock many people. However, she never expected that the issue would be the nation's talk. Though she "felt bad" about it, she admitted that one "can't anticipate something like that."
How Rich is Melinda French Gates?
Despite their split, Melinda and Bill continue to work together at The Gates Foundation that they started two decades ago. French Gates believes that being a billionaire entails a responsibility to give back to the community "so that you change and you lift others."
"I do believe that if you are lucky enough to be a billionaire, believe me, you can give away half of it and not change your life. And we should," said the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to help people live productively and healthily.
French Gates, who took up Master of Business Administration at Fuqua School of Business, also engages in her investment and incubation company Pivotal Ventures that financially support projects that empower women.
According to Forbes, the 57-year old philanthropist's net worth in 2022 is $6.2B.
Based on records, French Gates became a billionaire on her own when Bill Gates transferred $2.4 billion worth of stock to her in early May 2021, when they announced the end of their marriage, as Forbes reported.
French Gates confessed that there's "healing that needs to happen," and she wishes her ex-husband well as they take separate paths to recovery, while she gets "really, really excited" about the world and the work ahead of her.
"I feel like, I'm in a really good place," she said.
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