The fifth descriptor on Bill Gates’ Wikipedia page is philanthropist. His personal fortune is estimated at $103.7 billion, and two decades ago he announced his intention to donate most of his wealth to charity after his death, leaving only a very small portion to his children. “I don’t think it’s educational to grow up with billions of dollars,” the world’s richest man said in 2002. “I don’t think it would be good for society or good for them if I took a significant part of my wealth and created a situation where it would be theirs. My philosophy is to give my wealth back to society.”
Over the past weekend, the Jeffrey Epstein affair resurfaced once again, this time with new photos released from the case file. The images show Bill Clinton wearing a blue dress and heels and soaking in a jacuzzi, a condom stamped with Donald Trump’s name, Epstein alongside former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, as well as photos of billionaire Bill Gates and images from a 2011 dinner attended by prominent figures and well-known philanthropists, organized by a charity.
Much has been reported about Clinton’s involvement, as well as that of Barak, Trump and many others. But when Gates’ name emerged, it immediately recalled 2021, when Bill and his former wife, Melinda, announced their divorce, with Epstein cited as one of the central reasons that led to the split.
In May 2021, after 27 years of marriage and three children together, Bill and Melinda Gates announced they were divorcing. “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have decided to end our marriage,” the two said in an official statement posted on Twitter. “Over the last 27 years we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works around the world to enable people to lead healthy and productive lives. We continue to believe in that mission and will continue to work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe that we can continue to grow together as a couple at this stage of our lives.”
While Bill and Melinda closed their announcement by asking the public to respect their privacy, their eldest daughter, Jennifer, posted an Instagram story offering her own response. “This has been a challenging time for our family,” she wrote. “I’m still learning how to navigate this process in the best way and how to support my family. I won’t comment further on the separation, but please know that the kind words and support I’ve received mean the world to me.”
Bill and Melinda met in 1987, when Melinda began working at Microsoft, the software, computer and electronics company founded by Gates. “She had other boyfriends and I had Microsoft,” the entrepreneur and billionaire said in 2019 in the documentary “Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates.” He added: “We were kind of like, ‘We’re not really serious about each other, right? We’re just going to waste each other’s time.’”
The Gateses’ carefully worded separation announcement did not hold for long, and the name of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein quickly made headlines in connection with the couple.
In 2019, Melinda began consulting divorce lawyers, with the trigger being the friendship that had developed between her husband and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Bill didn’t do anything wrong, but the divorce was not a surprise,” a source familiar with the matter told Post News. “His relationship with Epstein created significant tension in the marriage. The entire friendship was one major difficulty for Melinda, and there was no way to convince her to spend time in his company.”
Gates, for his part, acknowledged that same year in an interview with the Journal that he knew Epstein but said they were not friends. “I met him. I did not have any business relationship or friendship with him,” he said.
That year, in another interview with the Journal, Melinda spoke about her marriage to Bill and said they had gone through an “irreversible crisis,” linking her remarks to the much-criticized relationship between the two men, who flew together to Palm Beach in 2013, four years after Epstein was arrested for soliciting a minor. Melinda said she was “very concerned about everything related to my husband’s relationship with the sex offender.”
Despite the difficulties, sources close to the couple said Melinda continued to fight for the marriage largely because of her faith. “Melinda hopes to receive an annulment from the Vatican after the civil divorce proceedings are completed.”
Not your 'typical nerd'
James Wallace, Gates’ biographer, told the Daily Mail in an interview about Gates’ years in his 20s, saying he was not a “typical nerd.” “Many of those Microsoft guys were young men in pizza-stained shirts who would sit for two or three days straight writing code,” Wallace said. “So from time to time they would throw fairly wild parties, including strippers, and bring them to Bill’s house.”
Wallace added that Gates’ womanizing in his youth did not contribute to stability in his relationship with Melinda, nor did his relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Ann Winblad, who later became a well-known businesswoman. It is worth noting that, according to reports, the two met again shortly after the Gateses announced their divorce. It was also reported that the two made a point of taking a weekend trip together once a year, even during his marriage to Melinda.
“It was a huge mistake to spend time with Jeffrey Epstein,” Gates said shortly after news of his divorce, in an interview with CNN. “I had dinner with him a few times in the hope that what he said about securing billions of dollars in donations for global health through connections he had would come to fruition. Apparently, that was not real and of course our relationship ended.”
4 View gallery
One of the many photos in the Epstein case file: Bill Gates and a young woman
(Photo: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)
The mistake of his life
Just a year ago, in January 2025, the billionaire acknowledged that his divorce from Melinda was the thing he regrets most. “I’m more cheerful now,” he said in an interview with the London Times that was published at the time, but added that ending his marriage was “the mistake I regret.”
Gates added: “There are other things I regret, but none of them really matter. The divorce was very painful for me and for Melinda for at least two years.
