Bill Gates is looking back on his divorce from Melinda Gates after more than two decades together.
“That was the mistake I most regret,” Bill, 69, told The Times of London of his previous marriage in a profile published on Saturday, January 25, adding that, despite his disappointment, he feels “more cheerful now.”
Bill and Melinda, 60, confirmed their separation in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage. The pair, who tied the knot in 1994, share three children: Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe.
Speaking to The Times, Bill noted that he initially “absolutely” wanted to replicate his parents’ 45-year union with Melinda.
“I encouraged Melinda to be a little calmer than my mother was, but we were both quite driven,” he told the outlet. “I spent more time with the kids than my dad did, but the ratio was still 10:1, with Melinda doing most things for the kids. We had a great time.”
The tech mogul added, “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. When Melinda and I met, I was fairly successful but not ridiculously successful — that came during the time that we were together. So, she saw me through a lot.”
Bill and Melinda met in 1987 when she started working for his Microsoft corporation. After tying the knot, the former couple founded a joint eponymous nonprofit. Melinda left the organization after the pair’s divorce.
“When we got divorced it was tough and then she made the decision to leave the foundation — I was disappointed that she took the option to go off,” Bill recalled to The Times.
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He further cites the divorce — which was settled in August 2021 — as one of his biggest adult failures.
“You would have to put that at the top of the list,” Bill said of his list of shortcomings. “There are others but none that matter. The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years.”
Since their split, Bill and Melinda have since put aside any personal issues they may have in order to peacefully coparent their now-adult kids.
“Melinda and I still see each other — we have three kids and two grandchildren so there are family events,” Bill noted to the U.K. newspaper. “The kids are doing well. They have good values.”
Melinda has previously been outspoken about healing from the breakup.
“It’s unbelievably painful, in innumerable ways, but I had the privacy to get through it,” she told Fortune in October 2022. “I also kept working with the person I was moving away from, and I need to show up and be my best self every single day. So even though I might be crying at 9 a.m. and then have to be on a videoconference at 10 a.m. with the person I’m leaving, I have to show up and be my best. And I learned as a leader that I could do it.”
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