Melinda French Gates on Break with Bill Gates

In his new memories The day afterMelinda French Gates shares many revelations about herself and her former marriage to the co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, including their conversation difficult to divorce after 27 years together.

In the book (and via People), Melinda wrote that she had first tried to repel her concerns about their relationship, but that did not work. She invited Bill during a trip to New Mexico in February 2020, where the couple tried to treat him “like any other vacation”, but the last night of the trip, she told him that she wanted to start living separately from him.

“It was one of the most frightening conversations I had had,” wrote Melinda in the book, which was released on April 15. Bill was “sad and upset” about the conversation, but also “understanding and respectful”.

Once they returned home to Seattle, they worked with the Gates Foundation while living separately, sometimes even by making joint appearances, which Melinda wrote could be embarrassing. Although his divorce of Bill – which was finalized in 2021 – is difficult to write (and to speak later), said Melinda People It was “important for me to be real” by sharing her story, and she hoped that her experience “could be useful to someone else”.

The decision to separate five years ago came after Bill previously recognized that “he was not always faithful to me,” wrote Melinda, and after their February decision to separate, in August, Melinda told Bill that she wanted to divorce in a long conversation, sometimes “tender”.

“And then I got into the car to go home,” she wrote. “On the way back, I stopped in a parking lot and I put a song by Willie Nelson that we listen together,” always in my mind “. I have disabled, sobbing on the wheel.

“The day that followed was even stranger and more painful,” she wrote, while the two were talking about how they were going to announce the news of their divorce to their children. After obtaining burgers, “it was a scene that had played hundreds of times between us,” continued Melinda. “But this time, we were talking about the way we were going to separate our lives.”

In an interview in 2024 with TIMEMelinda spoke of life after divorce, including she was never a fan of the manor she shared with Bill during their wedding. She prefers the simplicity of her post-account house to the opulence of their common place, saying at the exit: “I live in a neighborhood. Now I can walk in small shops. I can walk to the pharmacy, I can walk to a restaurant. I love it. ”

Melinda is also in a new relationship, she said PeopleSaying at the point of sale earlier this month that she is “very, very happy” – although she did not appoint her new partner.