Bill Gates Says Divorce from Ex-Wife Melinda ‘Was the Mistake I Regret the Most’

Bill Gates is speaking candidly about his divorce from Melinda French Gates, calling it “the mistake I regret the most.”

In an interview with The Times of London published on Saturday, Jan. 25, the former Microsoft exec, 69, opened up about his 2021 divorce from his wife of 27 years, revealing that one of his biggest goals in life was to replicate his own parents’ 45-year marriage.

“I encouraged Melinda to be a little calmer than my mother was, but we were both quite driven,” he told the outlet, reflecting on how he tried to make his own marriage reflect his parents’. “I spent more time with the kids than my dad did, but the ratio was still 10:1, with Melinda doing most things for the kids. We had a great time.”

Bill said he believes there is a “certain wonderfulness to spending your entire adult life with one person,” especially when you share children together, as well as fond memories and shared projects.

“When Melinda and I met, I was fairly successful but not ridiculously successful — that came during the time that we were together,” he told The Times of London. “So, she saw me through a lot. 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.”

The former couple first met in 1987, when Melinda became a product manager at Microsoft, and they eventually married in Hawaii in 1994. The pair founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — a nonprofit dedicated to combating global poverty and disease — in 2000. Following their split, Melinda, 60, resigned from the foundation in May 2024.

When asked if divorce was his only failure in life, Bill told The Times of London: “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,” he continued, adding elsewhere in the conversation that he has become “more cheerful” in the nearly four years since their split, but still considers it to be “the mistake I most regret.”

“Melinda and I still see each other — we have three kids and two grandchildren, so there are family events,” he said. “The kids are doing well. They have good values.”

The pair share three children: son Rory, 25, daughter Phoebe, 22, and daughter Jennifer, 28, as well as two grandchildren, Jennifer’s daughters Leila and Mia. Bill is now dating Paula Hurd, the widow of former Oracle executive Mark Hurd.

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Melinda has also previously opened up about her split from Bill, telling Time last year that while their divorce was “hard” and “painful,” over time it eventually came with “wonderful” new opportunities.

“I live in a neighborhood. Now I can walk to little stores. I can walk to the drugstore, I can walk to a restaurant,” she told the outlet, speaking about her change of scenery after the split. “I absolutely love it.”

Melinda also revealed that the former couple had separated during the COVID-19 pandemic, trading off who was able to stay at their shared family home with their children.

“It gave us the privacy to do what needed to be done in private,” she told Time of their family life during the pandemic. “You know, I separated first before I made the full decision about a divorce. And to be able to do that in private while I’m still trying to take care of the kids, while still making certain decisions about how you’re going to disentangle your life — thank God.”