Neither Melinda French nor her ex-husband Bill Gates are afraid to get candid about their head-turning divorce.
The former couple, who share kids Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe, tied the knot in 1994, and were married until 2021.
They have since then both spoken with candor about their divorce — with most recently the Microsoft founder admitting it's the "mistake" he regrets the most — and now his ex-wife has offered a follow-up.
Melinda, speaking with Elle for their annual women of impact feature, said frankly: "Look, divorces are painful, and it's not something I would wish on any family."
Still, she maintained that though it was one of the hardest things she has ever done, it was also one of the most important.
In his own recent interview, with The Times, Bill confessed of his divorce: "That was the mistake I most regret."
© Getty"There is a certain wonderfulness to spending your entire adult life with one person because of the memories and depth of things you have done and having kids together," he noted.
"When Melinda and I met, I was fairly successful but not ridiculously successful — that came during the time that we were together. So, she saw me through a lot," he further reflected, adding: "When we got divorced it was tough and then she made the decision to leave the foundation — I was disappointed that she took the option to go off."
© GettyAdmitting their divorce is his only "failure" that "matters," he also said: "You would have to put that at the top of the list. There are others but none that matter. The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years."
© InstagramLike other former wives of the world's billionaires (MacKenzie Scott), since divorcing Bill — which came after an extramarital affair involving a Microsoft employee, which led to an internal investigation in 2019, as well as him having spent time with notorious child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — Melinda has continued to dedicate herself to philanthropy, especially concerning women's issues.
© GettyLast May, Melinda resigned from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which they founded at the start of their marriage, and announced that she would go her own direction when it came to philanthropy. "The time is right for me to move forward into the next chapter of my philanthropy," she said at the time, adding: "This is a critical moment for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world — and those fighting to protect and advance equality are in urgent need of support."
She then revealed: "Under the terms of my agreement with Bill, in leaving the foundation, I will have an additional $12.5 billion to commit to my work on behalf of women and families," before concluding with: "I'll be sharing more about what that will look like in the near future." Bill, who founded Microsoft in 1975, has a net worth of $130.3 billion, per Forbes, while Melinda has a net worth of $11.2 billion, much of which she has committed to donating.
