Bill Gates opens up about marriage with Melinda: 'I wouldn't change it'

Two months after Melinda spoke to the media about her healing journey following her divorce from Bill Gates, Bill has also decided to open up. Bill, the 66-year-old co-founder of Microsoft, to the Sunday Times in an interview recently that he too is healing.

Gates told the publication: "I'm also grieving the same way she is...You know, we grew up together. I was a young 38-year-old, and she was a mature 28-year old [when we married], and over those next few years, in terms of what we learned together, what went well, what didn't go well… I mean, that's more than half my adult life....We did a lot together."

Even though Bill and Melinda are now divorced, they still work together through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which they started together in 2000. Bill told the Sunday Times he feels they can still work together.

Gates said, "Melinda and I… I feel lucky that I get to work with her. And we have the annual employee meeting at the Foundation and the Giving Pledge and the annual meeting in June that she and I host together."

Bill Gates is now a single man, but he is also an empty nester, which the tech-mogul spoke about during his interview. Bill says he misses the "mess and noise" that comes with having a full house.

Gates said, "The youngest just went off to college. She always had ten friends over. As I come out of the pandemic and we are back to 'normal,' it's actually pretty different." And now his house is feeling a bit too empty, "I have this nice house that lends itself to great discussions. But it feels too big most of the time."

The journalist who interviewed Bill asked a tricky question: are he and Melinda friends? During Melinda's interview, she would only say she was "friendly" with her ex. However, it seems Bill has a different perspective, and he told the newspaper he would say they are friends.

Bill told the Sunday Times, "We have a, you know, super important, complex, close relationship where we've chosen to work together. And I'm very happy that we get to work together."

Even though Bill and Melinda have gone through a very public and rather embarrassing divorce, Bill Gates says he does not regret marrying Melinda. Bill said, "Every marriage, as the kids leave the house, will go through a transition. Mine sadly went through this transition called divorce. But from my point of view, it was a great marriage."

Gates then continued, "I wouldn't have changed it. You know, I wouldn't choose to marry someone else." Not only that, but it also seems that Bill Gates would be open to marrying again if the stars align, saying, "in terms of my future, I don't have any plans, but I highly recommend marriage."

Bill Gates, the fourth richest man in the world, and his ex-wife Melinda of 27 years shocked the world when they announced the end of their marriage. On May 3rd, 2021, the couple filed for divorce and shared identical tweets confirming their decision.

One week after the wealthy couple announced their divorce, 'The Wall Street Journal' reported that Melinda began to look into the possibility of divorce way back in 2019. According to 'The Wall Street Journal's' sources, Melinda was worried about Bill's dealings with Jeffrey Epstein(pictured). Epstein killed himself while in jail that same year (2019) while in prison for charges related to sex trafficking.

'The Wall Street Journal's' sources claim that Bill and Jeffrey had a relationship for years, and Melinda began to express her worries over Bill Gates association with Epstein as far back as 2011. The straw that broke the camel's back may have been an article released by the 'New York Times' shortly before Melinda contacted her divorce lawyer in 2019. The article gave a detailed description of Bill Gates and Jeffery Epstein's meetings and even included information about Bill spending the night at Epstein's mansion in New York (pictured).

The website 'The Daily Beast' reported that Melinda warned Bill about forming a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in 2013. According to 'The Beast,' Melinda was so upset with Bill over associating with a sex offender that it resulted in "a turning point for the Gates' relationship.'

A representative for Bill Gates responded to 'The Wall Street Journal' regarding Bill and Epstein's relationship and said that Bill stood by the statement he gave in 2019 to the 'New York Times.' In the statement, Bill Gates said, "I met him. I didn't have any business relationship or friendship with him. I didn't go to New Mexico or Florida or Palm Beach or any of that. There were people around him who were saying, 'Hey, if you want to raise money for global health and get more philanthropy, he knows a lot of rich people.' Every meeting where I was with him were meetings with men. I was never at any parties or anything like that. He never donated any money to anything that I know about."

The billionaires are the co-founders of one of the most significant private charities in the world: 'The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.'

It is one of the most influential powers in global public health, having spent more than $50 billion over the last twenty years in an attempt to combat poverty and disease. Despite parting ways, the couple publicly pledged to continue to work together for their philanthropic goals.

Bill and Melinda Gates were married for 27 years and  raised three children together. In their statement about their divorce, the couple said that they could no longer "grow together as a couple." However, they stated they had already agreed upon how to divvy up the marital assets.

Following the announcement of the divorce, Melinda quickly began to prepare for her separation from Bill Gates on social media. She started to use her maiden name alongside the surname Gates on Twitter and Instagram, appearing as 'Melinda French Gates' on the latter when she shared a mother's day post in 2021.

The details of their divorce agreement have not been made public, nor were they disclosed when the pair filed in King Country Superior Count in Seattle.

While the details of the Gates' agreement were not made public, the settlement could have been a 50-50 split of the couple's assets, as the pair never signed a prenuptial agreement prior to their marriage in 1994. The divorce petition that they filed revealed this information, and according to laws in the state of Washington, couples that divorce must share their assets equally.

If Bill and Melinda did end up splitting their wealth 50-50, Melinda may now be the second richest woman in the world and be worth around $73 billion.

In the past, we have seen how the ex-wives of billionaires made the list of the world's richest women, as was the case with MacKenzie Bezos. It makes us wonder how Melinda Gates' divorce settlement will compare to those of other billionaire divorcees. Click on to see some of the most expensive divorces in history.

In 2019, CEO and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos terminated their marriage and finalized their divorce.

MacKenzie Scott (her maiden name) became THE richest woman in the world (at the time) as a result of her divorce settlement. She received a 4% stake in Amazon, valued at more than $36 billion. MacKenzie's total net worth is said to be $68 billion in total, making her the 12th richest person in the world.

Bill and Sue Gross divorced in 2017. Sue decided to walk away from her marriage with the founder of asset manager Pimco.

The divorce wasn't an amicable one, with Sue being given $1.3 billion in assets and custody of the couple's three cats in the divorce settlement. Bill Gross was distraught - not just by losing his cats but also by losing his spot on the Forbes 400 list in 2018 after having been on that list for fourteen years in a row.

Steve and Elaine Wynn started the Wynn Resorts casinos together, and when they divorced in 2010, Elaine made out very well.

The divorce settlement awarded Elaine 11 million shares of the resorts, which were estimated to be worth $795 million at that time. She also received nearly $114 million in stock sales sold by her ex-husband.

These days, Elaine Wynn is said to have a net worth of $2.3 billion.

When oil tycoon Harold Hamm decided to end his 26-year marriage with Sue Ann Arnall, he had no idea the headache he was in for. The couple did not have a prenup agreement, so Harold decided to write Sue Anne a check for $975 million.

Sue Anne Arnall accepted Harold's offer and cashed the check, but then greed got the best of her, and she filed an appeal for a larger share of her ex-husband's $13.7 billion fortune. Unfortunately for Sue Anne, signing the initial check caused her to lose her appeal. The court ruled that by signing and depositing the check, she had agreed to the settlement offered by her ex-husband.

Walt Disney's nephew Roy and his wife Patricia decided to divorce after 52 years of marriage in 2007. Roy Disney had been a consistent presence on the Forbes 400 list, but he would lose his spot thanks to his divorce.

Roy was worth around $1.3 billion at the time of the divorce. He lost almost half of his wealth due to parting ways with Patricia. The court stipulated that he pay his ex-wife $600 million as a settlement.

Will we ever know the details of the financial agreement between Bill and Melinda Gates? Or will they keep it hush-hush as Google co-founder Sergey Brin (who was worth $30 billion at the time) and Anne Wojcicki did?