Everything can seem great in a marriage behind closed doors, but clearly things may not always be as they seem - something Melinda French Gates has opened up about during a recent podcast appearance.
Melinda was speaking on the How To Fail podcast with Elizabeth Day when she made the revelations around her marriage to tech mogul Bill Gates.
The philanthropist was married to the Microsoft founder for 27 years, and has spoken out about why she decided to seek a divorce in 2021 - something which Gates has said is a mistake 'he most regrets'.
She talked about the 'inner voice' which knew things were no longer right between them.
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Melinda told host Elizabeth: “When that voice would come — and it would come at different times because of things that had happened outside the marriage that I would later come to learn about — I kept pushing it away.”
Melinda said the voice eventually became too loud to ignore: “At some point I had to turn towards it, and I just knew it and I knew it in my soul.”
She said she knew she had to 'take time and quiet, to myself, to ask 'why am I staying? What would it be like if I left?'
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She also admitted that she felt pressured to stay in the marriage for the sake of their three children, Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22.
Their philanthropic and charitable work for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was also at the forefront of her mind.
"We had a foundation and that was big and I believed in that work. I still believe in the work of the foundation,” she said.
Despite this inner voice, Melinda revealed it took her a surprisingly long time to decide the marriage had reached the point of no return, and insists she took the marriage 'seriously' and it wasn't ended on a whim.
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She confessed: “I took marriage — and I still do — very, very seriously and it wasn’t just two of us involved, it was five of us."
The former couple originally met back in 1987 when they attended a Microsoft sales meeting.
It's claimed he asked her out on a date while in the parking lot after the meeting, when Melinda was a product manager and Bill was CEO of the company.
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They eventually wed in 1994, before announcing their shock divorce in 2021.
Bill and Melinda had actually separated in secret a year before, as they couldn't 'grow together as a couple in this next phase of life'.
It has never been confirmed what actually happened between the two, but Bill revealed he had 'caused' pain to his family while speaking on The Today Show, according to Page Six.
Shockingly, Melinda then appeared on CBS Mornings and said that Bill's business meetings with disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had caused problems within their marriage, the publication also reported.
“I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made that clear to him, he was abhorrent. He was evil personified," she said.
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Melinda has gone on to find love with another entrepreneur Philip Vaughn, while Bill is currently in a relationship with Paula Hurd, a former tech executive.
Speaking about the regrets, Bill told The Times about the divorce: "You would have to put that at the top of the list. There are others but none that matter... Melinda and I still see each other, we have three kids and two grandchildren, so there are family events.
"The kids are doing well. They have good values."
Topics: Bill Gates, Charity, Podcast, Technology, Sex and Relationships
Jen Thomas