As Mrs Bill Gates, one half of one of the world’s wealthiest couples, Melinda had long stood in the shadows – a quiet, stoic support to her powerhouse husband and a stolid promoter of their shared philanthropic causes.
What a difference a divorce makes.
Because suddenly Melinda French Gates is everywhere – on the cover of People and on the sofas of TV chat shows. Sheathed in body-con dresses, her hair newly honeyed while pushing her new book ‘The Next Day’… and giving a masterclass in revenge in the process.
The 60-year-old, who ended her 27-year marriage to Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 2021 has ostensibly pitched her much anticipated book as a ‘coping with change’ handbook.
But let’s get real, it’s also a score-settling memoir in which she drip feeds disses on her allegedly errant ex, reminding us of Bill’s betrayals and inadequacies in column inches that make it clear – life without him has never been so good.
From reminiscences over the tech titan’s association with Jeffrey Epstein, to his admitted affair with a former Microsoft colleague, it seems this eternal do-gooder is subtly channeling her inner Mean Girl.
Appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert two weeks ago, Melinda reflected on her marriage to the man she met after joining Microsoft as a multimedia product developer in 1987.
‘I learned that to have a trusted relationship, which is what I wanted in the marriage, both partners have to be honest with one another,’ she said. ‘And if you can’t, you can’t have intimacy and you can’t have trust. So, in the end, I had to go.’
Suddenly Melinda French Gates is everywhere – on the cover of People and on the sofas of TV chat shows. Sheathed in body-con dresses, her hair newly honeyed while pushing her new book ‘The Next Day’… and giving a masterclass in revenge in the process.
The 60-year-old, who ended her 27-year marriage to Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 2021 has ostensibly pitched her much anticipated book as a ‘coping with change’ handbook. (Melinda and Bill Gates are pictured in 2018).
From reminiscences over the tech titan’s association with Jeffrey Epstein , to his admitted affair with a former Microsoft colleague, it seems this eternal do-gooder is subtly channeling her inner mean girl. (The pair are pictured in 1998).
Yes, weak, devious, disappointing Bill. The snide barbs of a woman scorned? Not really – more a shrewd takedown from a women reborn. Looking sleek and strong, with a new younger man on her arm and the moral high ground beneath her feet, Martyr Melinda is on a roll.
Not surprisingly her ex-husband’s association with Epstein looms large. Gates first met with the convicted pedophile in 2011 and saw him several times – spending time at his Manhattan townhouse on at least three occasions – apparently to discuss global health initiatives.
They are meetings Gates has since described as a, ‘huge mistake.’
By contrast Melinda, keen to highlight her superior judgement, met him ‘exactly one time,’ in 2013 at his New York home, an encounter she subsequently said left her, ‘unsettled.’
She’s touched on this before. Speaking to Gayle King on CBS This Morning in 2022 she said, ‘I regretted it the second I walked in the door. He was abhorrent. He was evil personified. My heart breaks for these women.’
But apparently Melinda’s of a mind that, if it’s worth saying once, it’s worth saying again and then committing to the pages of your memoir just for good measure.
Of course, the usually discreet mother of three, who co-chaired the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – the world’s second largest charitable organization – is only talking about the divorce because it would be ‘inauthentic not to,’ in a book that’s all about change and transitions.
Quite. Especially when there’s so much material.
Appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert two weeks ago, Melinda reflected on her marriage to the man she met after joining Microsoft as a multimedia product developer in 1987.
The usually discreet mother of three is only talking about the divorce because it would be ‘inauthentic not to,’ in a book that’s all about change and transitions. (Pictured: Bill and Melinda are pictured with their three kids, Phoebe, Jennifer and Rory).
There’s relish in revelations that she dumped a ‘sad and upset’ Bill over burgers in their usual restaurant. Elsewhere, the man at heart of the digital revolution is reduced to a gormless gump.
His failings are many; from a wedding cake-cutting faux pas – instead of cutting one piece and feeding it to his bride, ‘like every other groom in history,’ Melinda writes, Bill thought he had to cut a piece for everyone – to leaving her at the hospital to return to the office as she went into labor with their first child, only to reappear later, reeking of burgers. Well, at least it wasn’t perfume.
‘It made me feel nauseous,’ the Dallas native recalls in her book, before the final sting, ‘I spent most of that magical day cheerfully alone.’ Ouch.
Yes, French Gates has mastered the art of the restrained rebuke. When asked to comment on reports that Bill had been unfaithful during the marriage, she replied pointedly that that was one for Bill to answer.
Then there’s that intriguing, ‘We’re friendly, not friends,’ summary of the pair’s current relations. It perhaps explains why she left their joint foundation last year to focus on Pivotal Ventures, the women’s rights focused philanthropic and investment firm she founded in 2015.
But the real slam dunk is new boyfriend Philip Vaughn, a craft beer entrepreneur with whom she was first pictured in New York last autumn.
‘It’s pretty great,’ a beaming Melinda told Stephen Colbert, while basking in audience applause and, no doubt, the satisfaction of another perfectly pitched punch.
You see, at 48, Vaughn is a significantly younger upgrade on creaky Gates (turning 70 this year) but far removed from the cougar/carer dynamic of toyboy collectors like Madonna and Cher with himbos young enough to be their grandsons.
So where does all this leave Bill? While Melinda’s post-divorce new chapter is framed as a thriving rebirth of learning, the world’s fourth richest man is full of regrets.
There’s relish in revelations that French Gates (pictured here with her daughter Phoebe) dumped a ‘sad and upset’ Bill over burgers in their usual restaurant. Elsewhere, the man at heart of the digital revolution is reduced to a gormless gump.
But the real slam dunk is new boyfriend Philip Vaughn (pictured with French Gates), a craft beer entrepreneur with whom she was first pictured in New York last autumn.
Speaking to Savannah Guthrie on TODAY back in 2022, Gates wearily agreed to ‘making mistakes.’ He also revealed how the last of his three children – 22-year-old Phoebe, younger sister to Rory, 25 and Jennifer, 30 – was leaving home and leaving him with a ‘big empty nest,’ an allusion to Xanadu 2.0, the 66,000 square foot complex in Medina, Washington, he’d be rattling around in.
Interestingly, Bill was stumped when asked what he had learned from the divorce and still seemed to be clinging to the crumbs of his former union.
‘I feel lucky to have that with her,’ he said of their joint charitable organization – the one which Melinda would leave two years later.
He has since ‘moved on’ – albeit with 60-something philanthropist and Melinda clone, Paula Hurd, the widow of Oracle CEO Mark Hurd.
Meanwhile, Melinda is finding joy in listening to songbirds, which is always easy to do when your main concern is how to give away your $30.2 billion fortune.
It’s the sort of wholesome observation people expect from a woman who seems to be more focused on social justice than flaunting the latest label.
But, by biding her time, Melinda has shown there’s more to her than meets the eye and proved that in the long game of post break-up one upmanship she’s the winner.
