Bill Gates calls divorce from Melinda his biggest regret: "Divorce thing was miserable for me"

Bill Gates confessed that his divorce from Melinda is his greatest regret, describing the experience as deeply painful

Bill Gates has revealed that his divorce from Melinda Gates after 27 years of marriage is his greatest regret.  

“I’m more cheerful now,” he admitted in an interview with the Times of London, published Saturday, but added that the unravelling of his marriage is “the mistake I most regret.”  

Although Gates has encountered other failures, he stated that the divorce stands out as “at the top of the list.”  

“There are others but none that matter,” he said. “The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years.”  

Despite their split, Bill and Melinda, who are both now in other relationships, have kept an amicable relationship.  

“Melinda and I still see each other — we have three kids and two grandchildren so there are family events. The kids are doing well. They have good values,” Bill said.  

In the interview, Bill also reflected on how his marriage kept him “grounded” while he built Microsoft into a trillion-dollar company.  

Bill and Melinda married in 1994 and have three children: Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22. They announced their separation in May 2021, though they had been living apart for a year prior.  

Melinda, 60, shared that being separated during the Covid-19 pandemic gave her the space to reflect on their marriage.  

“It gave us the privacy to do what needed to be done in private,” she said in a June 2024 interview.  

Despite their eventual decision to part ways, Melinda has said the divorce, while healthier, was the “lowest moment” of her life.  

In a 2022 interview with Savannah Guthrie, Bill admitted he had “caused pain” when Melinda confronted him about allegations of an affair with a Microsoft employee.