Bill Gates Says Melinda Divorcing Him Is His Biggest Regret

Bill Gates has one major regret in life: his divorce.

He and Melinda Gates officially divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

“That was the mistake I most regret,” Bill told the Times of London.

“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,” Bill added. “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.”

Even after they parted ways, Melinda still ran the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation together. However, she left last year.

“When we got divorced it was tough, then she made the decision to leave the foundation—I was disappointed that she took the option to go off," Bill said.

Bill said their divorce was “at the top of the list” when asked if he had any other major failures in life. “There are others but none that matter,” he said. “The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years.”

Melinda filed for divorce due to Bill's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child sex offender. She reportedly had been meeting with lawyers since 2019. “I did not like that [Bill] had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made it that clear to him,” she said on CBS Mornings in 2022. “I regretted it the second I walked in the door. [Epstein] was abhorrent. He was evil personified."

In the time since their split, Bill started dating Paula Hurd, widow to the late Oracle CEO Mark Hurd. Last year, Melinda went public with her relationship with entrepreneur Philip Vaughn. Bill and Melinda share three kids, 28-year-old Jennifer, 25-year-old Rory, and 22-year-old Phoebe.

Bill is gearing up for the arrival of his new memoir, Source Code.