Melinda Gates Discusses Reasons Behind Her Divorce from Bill Gates, Talks Healing Process

Melinda told Fortune that divorcing Bill during the pandemic gave her more privacy.

“I had some reasons I just couldn’t stay in that marriage anymore. But the odd thing about COVID is that it gave me the privacy to do what I needed to do,” she explained. “It’s unbelievably painful, in innumerable ways, but I had the privacy to get through it.”

“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,” Melinda added. “So even though I might be crying at 9 am and then have to be on a videoconference at 10 am 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. It reminded me that the foundation calls me to be my best. We work with unbelievable partners around the world who were also struggling during COVID. I was on a video call with a woman who had lost her father, and a week later she’s on a call with me, right?”

She added that her “main concern” was taking care of her children. “And we got to the other side,” Melinda said.

In case you missed it, Melinda previously revealed how Jeffrey Epstein impacted her marriage. She’s also spoken about her husband’s affair.