Bill Gates’ ex Melinda reveals how she leaned on youngest daughter Phoebe during year-long separation
Melinda French is stepping into her own power and influence since her divorce from her billionaire former husband Bill Gates, finalized in 2021.
The philanthropist, who turned 60 last year, is set to release a memoir on her life titled The Next Day, detailing her own background, her very public marriage, motherhood, and her divorce.
Despite being nearly four years out since announcing their split, the feelings remain touchy, which Melinda expanded upon in a new interview with People also featuring excerpts from her book, out April 15. Watch her discuss her split previously below…
“It was important for me to be real,” she says of being open about the divorce. “Hopefully, it might be helpful to someone else.”
She detailed how her feelings of anxiety about the marriage grew as early as 2019, when she began having dreams of her home collapsing and would wake up with panic attacks. “As dramatic as it sounds, I knew, in that moment, that I was going to have to make a decision — and that I was going to have to make it by myself,” she wrote.
Melinda also detailed a trip she took to New Mexico with her now ex-husband in early 2020 where she hoped she could reconcile her feelings about him. But it was then she decided that she wanted to live separately in their mansion back in Seattle with their youngest daughter.
© Getty ImagesPhoebe Gates, who was still a senior in high school at the time, was the closest with her mother due to proximity. Their two older kids, Jennifer and Rory, were already out of the house, and the couple decided to keep quiet about their separation at least until Phoebe was still in school.
“It was one of the scariest conversations I’d have had,” Melinda recalled, adding that the Microsoft co-founder, while “sad and upset” was also “understanding and respectful.”
Over the next year, they continued to work on their foundation together, with only key people in their lives aware of the split, while leading separate lives.
© Getty ImagesIn May 2021, they finally decided to announce to the world their divorce, first telling people in their foundation and then issuing a public statement. And once again, Phoebe was her mother’s rock.
Melinda recalled a then 18-year-old Phoebe showing her memes about the news, in an effort to lighten the mood. “We laughed a little, but I wasn’t really in a celebratory mood,” she wrote.
© Getty ImagesDespite candidly addressing “betrayals” in her memoir, she has maintained a cordial relationship with her ex as a co-parent and co-grandparents. Bill is currently in a relationship with Paula Hurd.
“It takes courage forging a different life,” Melinda told the publication about her life ahead, referencing her grand charitable donations through Pivotal Ventures. “When you change paths, you realize, oh, it’s a big opening.”
© VarietyPhoebe, now 22, is an entrepreneur as well like her parents, launching the startup Phia with social entrepreneur Sophia Kianni. The two met as students at Stanford University and recently also started their podcast titled The Burnouts, discussing their adventures in business.
