Melinda French Gates Says Ex-Husband Bill Needs to 'Answer Questions' After Being Linked to Jeffrey Epstein: 'Beyond Heartbreaking'

Melinda French Gates is unbelievably sad that ex-husband Bill Gates has been heavily featured in the files related to the ongoing investigation into late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The philanthropist — who spoke about the recent release of documents by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a preview clip for the Thursday, February 5, episode of NPR's "Wild Card" podcast — also said Bill's appearance in the files evokes awful memories.

"No girl should ever be put in the situation that they were put in by Epstein and whatever was going on with all of the various people around him," Melinda, 61, told host Rachel Martin. "I mean, it's just, it's beyond heartbreaking, right? I remember being those ages, those girls were, I remember my daughters being those ages, right?"

She went on, "So, for me it's personally hard whenever those details come up, right? Because, [it] brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage."

"So whatever questions remain there of what I don't — I can't even begin to know all of it. Those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband," she continued. "They need to answer to those things, not me. And I am so happy to be away from all the muck that was there."

When pressed more about the situation, Melinda said she feels "unbelievable sadness" for herself, but more so for the victims of the dead s-- trafficker.

"I'm able to take my own sadness and look at those young girls and say, 'My god, how did they, how did that happen to those girls,' And so for me, it's just sadness," she declared. "Sadness for, you know, I left my marriage. I had to leave my marriage. I wanted to leave my marriage. I felt I needed to eventually leave the foundation."

The tech mogul's former wife shared she's be able to "move on," and she hopes the survivors get justice. "What they went through is just unimaginable," she added.

Melinda's remarks come as it was revealed that the Microsoft billionaire allegedly caught an STD after cheating on his then-wife with "Russian girls."

Included in the latest batch of documents released by the DOJ on Friday, January 30, was a message from Jeffrey that read: "TO add insult to the injury you them [sic] implore me to please delete the emails regarding your std, your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda and the description of your p----."

Other emails that Jeffrey seemingly wrote to himself, assumed to be drafts, explained why he was resigning from the couple's foundation.

"I have been caught up in a severe marital dispute between Melinda and Bill... In my role as his right hand man I have been asked and wrongly acquiesced into participating in things that have ranged from the morally inappropriate, to the ethically unsound and have been repeatedly asked to do thing (sic) that get near and potentially over the line into the illegal," he penned.

Melinda and Bill went their separate ways in 2021 after 27 years of marriage. Their divorce remains among one of the most expensive in history, with the estranged couple reaching an estimated $76 billion settlement.

Melinda revealed she "had to" call her marriage off due to a lack of trust during an April 2025 appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, though she didn't share other details.

She reportedly met with divorce lawyers in 2019 when Bill's connection to the late convicted s-- offender became public.

The former couple share three children: Jennifer, 29, Rory, 26 and Phoebe, 23.