Last year in May, the philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft announced that he was parting ways with his partner of 27 years.
“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” Bill and Melinda said in their joint statement on Twitter. “Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives.”
“We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.”
The couple tied the knot in 1994 in Lanai, Hawaii, and share three children together – Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe.
Their divorce was finalized in August 2021, and at that time, no child support was given by the court as all their children are adults.
In an interview with CBS Mornings, Melinda Gates opened up about her emotional trauma and all the pain she went through during and after their split.
“I think it’s really important to say, look, I had a lot of tears for many days,” she told the outlet. “I mean, [I had] days where I’m literally laying on the floor and the carpet, you know, this close to me, thinking, ‘How can this be? How can I get up? How am I gonna move forward?’ And days I certainly was angry. That’s part of the grieving process. You’re grieving a loss of something you thought you had and thought you had for your lifetime. I mean, this is painful stuff.”
“At the end of the day, though, I started on this journey of healing, and I feel like I’m starting to get to the other side. And I do feel like I’m turning a page in the chapter now,” she added.
Speaking of Gates’ affair with one of his staffers (some twenty years ago), which according to People Magazine, was confirmed by a spokesperson of the billionaire in May 2021, Melinda said,
“I certainly believe in forgiveness, so I thought we had worked through some of that.”
“It wasn’t one moment or one specific thing that happened. There just came a point in time where there was enough there that I realized it just wasn’t healthy, and I couldn’t trust what we had,” she explained.
Three months after their divorce was finalized, the Microsoft co-founder wrote in his blog that 2021 was the ‘most unusual and difficult year of his life.’
“In 2021, the pandemic has dominated our lives since day one. We’ve all had to adapt to a ‘new normal,’ although what that looks like is different for every person. For me, the result has been a year spent mostly online.”
“It’s been a strange and disorienting experience. My personal world has never felt smaller than it did over the last twelve months.”
What are your views on Melinda Gates’ statements about her divorce from the tech mogul? Let us know in the comments.
Sources: CBS Mornings – Twitter – People Magazine
