Bill Gates opened up about his recent divorce to Melinda French Gates in an interview on Wednesday and said his relationship to billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was a “mistake.”
The Microsoft founder told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that his split with Melinda was a “very sad milestone,” and a source of “personal sadness.”
Gates told the anchor that he and his ex-wife will continue their philanthropy work together, citing her “incredible strengths” in furthering the missions of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Melinda has said she will try to work with Bill on the foundation for at least two more years.
“I’ve always enjoyed our work together,” Gates told CNN. “You know the two of us can go out and work with leaders and help build the organization, so that would be definitely the best thing for the foundation.”
Gates also discussed his relationship with the late Epstein, which was reportedly a source of contention in his marriage.
“I had several dinners with him hoping that what he said about getting billions of philanthropy for global health through contacts he had might emerge,” Gates said. “When it looked like that wasn’t a real thing that relationship ended.”
“It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility,” the billionaire continued. “I made a mistake.”
Gates said he does have some regrets about reports of a toxic culture at Microsoft, including allegations he made unwanted advances on women at work, which he denies.
“At this time I need to go forward, my work is very important to me. Within the family, we’ll heal as best we can and learn from what’s happened,” Gates told CNN.
Gates, who has donated at least $1.75 billion to fight COVID-19, said he is pleased with the effectiveness and production of vaccinations but is alarmed by the highly transmissible Delta variant.
“We wanted to be nearer to the end than we are, but Delta is very bad news,” Gates said.
