Melinda French Gates has opened up about the moment she realized she needed to end her marriage to Bill Gates, a decision that came after nearly three decades of partnership. The 60-year-old philanthropist and the 69-year-old Microsoft co-founder shocked the public when they revealed in May 2021 that they were parting ways after 27 years of marriage.
Speaking candidly during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday, April 14, Melinda discussed the circumstances surrounding the divorce and the personal growth that followed. She was promoting her memoir, The Next Day, which delves into her journey through the separation and the strength she found during that period.
Melinda addressed the core issue that led her to walk away from the marriage. She emphasized the importance of mutual honesty in a partnership. “To have a trusted relationship, which is what I wanted in marriage, that means that both partners have to be honest with one another,” she told Colbert. Reflecting on her own experience, she added, “And if you can’t, you can’t have intimacy and you can’t have trust. So in the end, I had to go.”
Her memoir, The Next Day, details how she chose to respond to the challenges in her marriage. In it, she writes about her effort to “respond to the betrayals in my marriage without betraying myself in return.” She credits years of therapy with helping her maintain her integrity through the difficult process. The book also reveals that the decision to end the marriage was not made overnight, and the separation itself was kept private for over a year before the public announcement.
In an earlier interview with PEOPLE magazine, Melinda echoed a central theme of her book — the importance of staying true to oneself. “You have to stay true to yourself always, right?” she said. For her, being authentic was essential, and she hopes her experience can help others who might be navigating similar transitions. “It was important for me to be real,” she added. “Hopefully it might be helpful to someone else.”
On the same Late Show appearance, Melinda shared a brief but positive update on her personal life. While she did not share details on the show itself, she did confirm that she is currently in a “pretty great” relationship. In her interview with PEOPLE, she revealed that she was dating and felt “very, very happy.” Last fall, she was seen holding hands with businessman Philip Vaughn, suggesting that she has indeed found happiness again.
As she promotes her new book, Melinda is also reflecting on her philanthropic legacy, particularly her efforts to empower women and girls through charitable giving. Alongside discussing her charitable initiatives, she is openly talking about the events that led to her divorce and other pivotal experiences in her life.
During a recent interview on Good Morning America, Melinda described her decision to leave Bill as a profoundly painful experience. “I ended up learning some lessons and there was some growth in there, too,” she shared. Despite the hardship, she found valuable insights and emerged stronger.
In The Next Day, she recounts having haunting dreams about her family before making the decision to leave. One vivid nightmare involved her falling off a cliff — a symbolic representation of her emotional state at the time. “As dramatic as it sounds,” she writes, “I knew, in that moment, that I was going to have to make a decision—and that I was going to have to make it by myself.”
After the divorce, Melinda took time to rediscover herself and embrace a new chapter. She told PEOPLE about a “freedom tour” she took with friends to Mexico. The trip was symbolic of her transition into single life and self-reinvention. “Transitions can be scary, exhilarating or both,” she said. “But anything’s possible. And when you get to the other side, you’re going to be okay.”
Bill Gates has also reflected publicly on the end of their marriage. In an interview with the U.K. Times in January, he acknowledged the emotional toll of the divorce. He called it “tough” and referred to it as “the mistake I most regret.” His remarks underscored the depth of their shared history and the difficulty of moving on from such a long-standing partnership.
However, Bill clarified his sentiments during a subsequent appearance on the Today show. He said that his regret did not lie in the marriage itself, but rather in how it ended. “Despite the fact that the divorce wasn’t great, having those three kids, the work we were able to do together — even if I knew that it [wouldn’t] last forever, I would still do it again,” he said. His statement acknowledged the value of their family and shared philanthropic efforts, even if the romantic relationship could not be sustained.
When asked about Bill’s remarks during an interview with Elle in March, Melinda offered her own perspective. She expressed hope that people would recognize her personal growth and strength post-divorce. “I hope people saw that I was thriving on the other side of a divorce,” she said.
Melinda’s recent media appearances, her memoir, and her continued dedication to philanthropic work reveal a woman who has come through personal upheaval with clarity, resolve, and optimism for the future. Her story is one of resilience, authenticity, and transformation, and she hopes her journey can serve as a beacon for others facing difficult decisions in their personal lives.