‘Crying at 9am, video conference at 10am’: Melinda Gates opens up about working with Bill during divorce

Former couple, who continue to run Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation together, announced decision to divorce in May 2021

Melinda French Gates has spoken candidly about what it was like to work with her ex-husband Bill Gates amid their divorce.

The philanthropist, 58, and the Microsoft cofounder, 66, announced their intention to divorce in May 2021 after nearly 30 years of marriage. The divorce was finalised in August 2021, however, the former couple continue to run their foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, together.

While speaking to Fortune, French Gates opened up about the “unbelievably painful” divorce and reflected on the difficulty of having to continue working with her ex.

According to French Gates, she was aware each day that she needed to show up to work as her “best self”. However, she noted that it wasn’t always easy, as there were days she “might be crying at 9am and then have to be on a videoconference at 10am with the person I’m leaving”.

“I also kept working with the person I was moving away from, and I need to show up and be my best self every single day,” she said. “So even though I might be crying at 9am and then have to be on a videoconference at 10am with the person I’m leaving, I have to show up and be my best.

“And I learned as a leader that I could do it.”

According to the women’s rights advocate, working with individuals who were also facing difficult times during the Covid-19 pandemic helped her in these moments.

“We work with unbelievable partners around the world who were also struggling during Covid. I was on a video call with a woman who had lost her father, and a week later she’s on a call with me, right?” she said, adding: “It reminded me that the foundation calls me to be my best.”

French Gates also acknowledged that her “main concern” during this time was protecting the couple’s three children, Jennifer, 25, Rory, 23, and Phoebe, 19. However, she noted that they were able to successfully get “to the other side”.

During the interview, French Gates also discussed her divorce from her husband of 27 years, and how the pandemic offered her the “privacy” to end her marriage, and the “privacy to get through it”.

“I had some reasons I just couldn’t stay in that marriage anymore,” she said. “But the odd thing about Covid is that it gave me the privacy to do what I needed to do. It’s unbelievably painful, in innumerable ways, but I had the privacy to get through it.”

As for whether she feels that her divorce changed the way she views the world, or “the way the world views [her],”French Gates said that she does not think about either, as she knows who she is and what she “stands for”.

“I don’t really think about it, to be honest. Because I know who I am, and I know what I stand for,” she said.

Gates has also opened up about the emotions he felt at the end of his marriage, with the billionaire tech entrepreneur stating in a blog post published to his GatesNotes blog in December 2021 that it had been a year of “great personal sadness”.

However, while speaking to The Sunday Times in May, Gates revealed that, from his point of view, his and French Gates’ marriage was a “great” one and he wouldn’t have changed it.

“From my point of view it was a great marriage. I wouldn’t have changed it. You know, I wouldn’t choose to marry someone else,” he said. When asked if he would marry again, Gates answered: “Yes. I’m talking about would I marry Melinda all over again. In terms of my future, I don’t have any plans, but I highly recommend marriage.”