Melinda Gates was the wife of the richest man in the world. She is now divorced from Microsoft founder Bill Gates – and is now doing her own charitable work to mark her 60th birthday.
In May 2021, the Gates couple shocked the world with a short message: “After careful consideration and a lot of work on our relationship, we have decided to end our marriage,” Bill and Melinda Gates wrote at the time. “Over the past 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works around the world to help people live healthy and productive lives. But we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.” It is a “challenging time for our entire family,” said eldest daughter Jennifer.
The divorce has now been finalized and, shortly before her 60th birthday on Thursday (August 15), Melinda Gates has also just left the influential joint foundation. She now wants to start something new, especially to support women and families, and has 12.5 billion dollars (about 11.5 billion euros) at her disposal, Gates announced.
In interviews, Gates also makes it clear that she does not want to withdraw from public life, but rather the opposite. She is also involved in the current US election campaign – and publicly supports Kamala Harris, who wants to succeed President Joe Biden.
Grew up in simple circumstances
Gates was born in 1964 into humble circumstances in Dallas, Texas. Her father was an engineer, her mother a housewife, and money for their four children was often tight. To help out, Gates scrubbed floors and ovens as a teenager for a small wage. “But my parents always insisted that I go to college,” she once told the British “Guardian”. So she studied economics and computer science at the renowned Duke University and then joined the software giant Microsoft. It is said that her initiative led to the creation of the talking comic character “Karl Klammer” in the Microsoft Office program.
One day, her boss at Microsoft personally asked her out on a date. “Could we maybe meet the Saturday after next?” Bill Gates asked, Melinda Gates once recalled in an interview with the US radio station NPR. “I said, ‘Well, that’s not exactly spontaneous enough for me. Why don’t you call me again before the date?'”
Inside I thought to myself: “Wow, who knows their calendar two weeks in advance? Is he kidding me?” Her mother thought the date with the boss was “not a good idea” – “but I didn’t think we would get married, and going out with him once couldn’t hurt.”
Smart, elegant and one of the richest women in the world
The wedding in 1994 was followed by 27 years of marriage, three children together and the establishment of the largest private foundation in the world, which since its establishment in 1999 has donated many billions of dollars to the fight against diseases such as AIDS and polio as well as to education and agricultural aid. The former couple – now grandparents – have received numerous awards for their commitment.
But Melinda Gates never felt comfortable in the shadow of her husband. The British Telegraph once wrote that she was “smart” and “tough,” while the Guardian called her “self-confident” and “elegant to the core.” In the world of billionaires and mega-philanthropists that is still dominated by men, Melinda Gates fought her way through.
She has long been a regular on the list of the “most powerful women in the world” regularly compiled by “Forbes” magazine. Since her divorce, Gates has been one of the richest women in the world – but, just like her ex-husband, she has committed to donating the majority of her wealth during her lifetime.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
