It certainly wasn't easy for Melinda French to leave Bill Gates, but eventually the signs became too clear to ignore.
The former powerhouse couple shocked many when in 2021, they announced their divorce, after almost 30 years of marriage and welcoming three kids together, Jennifer, 29, Rory, 26, and Phoebe, 22.
However, in the years since their split, as some of the reasons behind the split came to light, including the Microsoft founder's infidelity, the philanthropist has maintained how evident it became that it had to happen.
© GettySpeaking on Elizabeth Day's How to Fail podcast, Melinda recalled the calls inside her head telling her it was time to leave. "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."
She pointed to both their three kids and the philanthropic foundation they built together, which she also ultimately left, as things that made her stay.
"I believed in that work,” she said of the foundation, adding. "I still believe in the work of the foundation," and further reflected: "It wasn't just two of us involved, it was five of us."
© Getty Images"It's two people who've come together, hopefully in love — and in my case, I would definitely say that — so then the pulling it apart later is really hard," she went on, but ultimately noted: "At some point, I had to turn towards it, and I just knew it and I knew it in my soul."
Back in March 2020, Bill stepped down from the Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway boards, and though at the time it was said it was in an effort to dedicate more time to philanthropic priorities, it was later revealed that it came after he was investigated by an outside law firm hired by Microsoft board members over a past affair with an employee, after the staffer brought it to light in 2019.
© InstagramStill, in a statement at the time, a representative for the billionaire said: "There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably. Bill's decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter. In fact, he had expressed an interest in spending more time on his philanthropy starting several years earlier." The affair took place around the year 2000.
Also contributing to Melinda's reasons to leave Bill was his murky relationship with notorious child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019. In her recent book, The Next Day, Melinda described articles documenting Bill's several meetings with the sex trafficker as "deeply disturbing."
© GettySpeaking with People about her book earlier this year, and the "betrayals" she mentions in them, asked how she overcame them, she maintained: "You have to stay true to yourself always, right?"
And in his own recent interview, with The Times, Bill confessed of his divorce: "That was the mistake I most regret," adding: "There is a certain wonderfulness to spending your entire adult life with one person because of the memories and depth of things you have done and having kids together."
