Melinda French Gates isn’t quite ready to forgive ex-husband Bill Gates following their messy divorce — and his name being included in the Epstein files.
“That’s a work in progress,” Melinda, 61, shared during the Thursday, February 5, episode of NPR’s “Wild Card with Rachel Martin” podcast. “I think I’m getting there.”
Melinda didn’t share any further details about the topic, explaining that she was “going to keep that one to myself” for now. Melinda, however, did say that she’s good at forgiving in general.
“I’ve learned that forgiveness can take a long time, and you can’t rush it,” she explained. “You have to go through every piece.”
Melinda said it “takes me time to process” certain situations — especially what went wrong. She used the example of a close friendship on the podcast.
“I’ve known this person a long time. They’re a truth teller. I’m a truth teller to her, but we bungle some things,” she added. “How do I forgive that? How do I tell her what I need? How do I own my part of it? It takes time to do that.”
She added, “I really seek forgiveness with everybody, because if you can’t eventually forgive somebody, then you hurt yourself. I don’t want to live my life hurting myself.”
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Melinda noted that forgiving someone “doesn’t mean I need to be close to them.” But she is able to forgive the situation and ultimately “move on.”
“That’s part of healing and being truthful with yourself and owning up to your side of the road,” she added. “I always say, keep your own side of the road clean, if you can. We bump through life, and we do hurt other people by things we say or inadvertently say, or ways that we feel.”
Melinda and Bill were married for 27 years before announcing in May 2021 that they had split. She previously revealed that his connection to late billionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was one of the reasons their relationship ended in divorce.
A clip from NPR’s “Wild Card” podcast released on Tuesday, February 3, had Melinda addressing her ex-husband being named in the latest batch of Epstein Files, which were released late last month. Melinda explained that it’s “personally hard” when Bill’s name makes headlines for the Epstein Files.
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“[It] brings back memories of some very very painful times in my marriage. But I have moved on from that,” she continued. “I purposely pushed it away and I moved on. I’m in a really unexpected, beautiful place in my life.”
An unsent email allegedly written by Epstein claimed that Bill had slept with two “Russian girls” and contracted a sexually transmitted infection. The message further alleged that Bill, who received antibiotics for the apparent STI, was going to unknowingly administer them to Melinda.
Bill claimed the email was “false” while speaking to 9 News Australia on Wednesday, February 4.
”I don’t know what his thinking was there. Was he trying to attack me in some way?” the tech giant wondered. “Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologize that I did that.”
