NEWSMelinda Gates Admits 'Painful' Divorce From Bill Also Had a Positive Side: 'I Ended Up Learning Some Lessons'
Melinda Gates' book 'The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward' is out on Tuesday, April 15.
April 14 2025, Published 3:20 p.m. ET
Melinda Gates admitted that detailing her divorce from Bill Gates in her new memoir, The Next Day, was difficult, but she felt the story was "important" to include since she wanted the book to express her "most authentic self."
Bill and Melinda Gates divorced in 2021.
"[Divorce is] hard on any family, so I write from my perspective," the mom-of-three, 60, explained in a new interview. "But it's not something I would wish on anybody — and unfortunately so many families go through it. It is a big transition."
"And for me, while it was painful for sure, I ended up learning some lessons and there was some growth in there, too," she noted of the silver lining. "I'm learning that there's still a lot of play and so much joy in life."
The mom-of-three wrote about her divorce in 'The Next Day,' out Tuesday, April 15.
"It takes courage forging a different life," the philanthropist added.
Melinda noted she's "not trying to give advice to anybody" with her tome.
"It was important for me to be real," she shared. "Hopefully, it’s helpful to someone else."
The exes split in 2021, writing on social media at the time, "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage."
"Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives," their joint message continued. "We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives."
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Melinda was the one who asked for the divorce.
However, as OK! reported, the duo secretly separated a year prior.
Though the entrepreneur, 69, cheated on his ex-wife, Melinda admitted she didn't begin seriously thinking about a split until 2019, which was the year it was revealed that Bill had meetings with late s-- offender Jeffrey Epstein. (At the time, Bill confessed he was "stupid" to socialize with Epstein but said they only discussed charity donations.)
The philanthropist said she grew as a person from the drama.
Melinda soon began having nightmares about their family falling off a cliff, writing in her book, "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."
In February 2020, Melinda asked the Microsoft founder to join her on a vacation to New Mexico, where she informed Bill she wanted to live separately.
"It was one of the scariest conversations I’d have had," she admitted in the tome.
The two kept the separation under the radar until they felt ready to go public.
People spoke with Melinda.
