Divorcing Melinda Gates Is The Mistake I Regret Most – Bill Gates

Billionaire Bill Gates admitted that he’s “cheerful now” but revealed that his divorce from Melinda French Gates after 27 years of marriage is “the mistake I regret the most.”

“The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years,” Bill told The Times of London on Saturday.

The Microsoft co-founder had hoped his marriage to Melinda would be as successful as his parents Bill Sr. and Mary, who lived together for 45 years.

“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,” Gates said.

Bill said he would have to put the public divorce “at the top of the list” of his failures throughout his life.

“There are others but none that matter,” the philanthropist added.

The couple met in 1987 during a Microsoft sales meeting when Melinda was a product manager and Bill was the company’s CEO.

He reportedly asked her out on a date in a parking lot.

They got married on New Year’s Day in 1994 and went on to share kids Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22

“When Melinda and I met, I was fairly successful but not ridiculously successful — that came during the time that we were together,” the 69-year-old said. “So, she saw me through a lot.”

In 2021, Bill and Melinda announced their divorce after secretly separating the year before, saying they could no longer “grow together as a couple in this next phase of life.”

“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,” Bill said.