From tech to philanthropy Melinda Gates is now dipping her toes into politics. Here’s how she’s moved on from her past marriage with Bill Gates and is heading a philanthropic organization seeking to increase women’s power.
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00:00Melinda French-Gates is different than your average wealthy divorcee.
00:05Obviously, she's worth billions at this point, post-divorce,
00:09but she's also one of the most influential women in the country right now.
00:12She works alongside Michelle Obama, McKenzie Scott, and other women in power
00:17who are really trying to give back to communities who deserve a little bit more.
00:21I'm Jordan Hart. I'm a tech reporter here at Business Insider,
00:24and today we're going to be spilling the tea on Melinda French-Gates.
00:28French-Gates found her love for computer science all the way back in Catholic school
00:32when they brought in Apple computers for the students to try,
00:35and she was quickly fascinated by the coding and, like, the logical puzzle that it all presented to her.
00:41French-Gates would then go on to get her bachelor's and her master's from Duke University.
00:45Microsoft recruited French-Gates in 1987, and shortly after that,
00:50she met Bill Gates for the first time at a company dinner.
00:53He'd asked her out, like, two weeks in advance, and she said no.
00:56He may not have been spontaneous enough for her,
00:59so he asked her out for that night, and that time she said yes.
01:03So the couple dated for, like, seven years, and they kept a pretty low profile at Microsoft.
01:08The couple were married in 1994 on a golf course in Hawaii
01:11in a wedding that reportedly cost about a million dollars.
01:14That's probably because Gates booked all of the hotel rooms and all of the helicopters during their wedding
01:19so they could keep it as private as possible and avoid anyone flying over trying to snap photos of the wedding.
01:25French-Gates eventually left Microsoft to focus on raising their children.
01:28The couple shared three kids in total, two daughters and one son.
01:32And Bill Gates is hailed as this, like, tech godfather,
01:35but he and French-Gates ultimately decided to not let their kids have phones until they were 14 years old.
01:40And that's not the only thing that's a little bit different about their parenting style.
01:43They've also spent $37 million on properties so their daughter Jennifer could practice show jumping
01:49and eventually become a nationally ranked equestrian.
01:52So when you're a billionaire, you definitely have some millions to spare.
01:55So they weren't spending it all on lavish properties for their kids to practice all of their interests.
02:00They were also trying to figure out how they could give back.
02:03During a trip to Africa in 1993, the couple witnessed poverty and extreme disparity
02:08between the healthcare there and the healthcare that they're used to seeing in the U.S.
02:12When we were engaged, Bill and I talked about the fact that this wealth would go back to society.
02:17And that's how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation began.
02:20It's gone on to become one of the biggest philanthropic organizations in the U.S.
02:23and richer than even some countries.
02:26The couple got divorced in 2021.
02:28So there are a few factors that could have contributed to this divorce.
02:30French-Gates has said in the past that she did not like that Gates had a relationship
02:34with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
02:38She said she advised him to break it off.
02:40And then there's also the fact of an affair with a Microsoft employee, which Gates has publicly acknowledged.
02:46Even though their breakup sounds a little messy,
02:48they kept a really good professional relationship, it seems,
02:50and they were able to still get work done at the foundation.
02:53In the years since her divorce, French-Gates says she's dating again.
02:56No specifics.
02:58She's moved out of the $100 million-plus compound, Xanadu 2.0,
03:03and into her own smaller property that she said she loves.
03:07She's left the Gates Foundation earlier this year.
03:09Since leaving the foundation, French-Gates is charting her own course in philanthropy now at Pivotal Ventures.
03:14She's focused on getting women in power, helping them achieve equality, and reproductive rights.
03:20If you lift up women, you lift up everybody else.
03:23And French-Gates is accomplishing that by putting money towards contraceptives for women
03:27and donating to candidates who champion abortion rights like Kamala Harris.
03:31French-Gates has come a long way from being a product manager at Microsoft,
03:35and her story may sound a little bit similar to another tech founder's ex-wife,
03:38Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
03:42She got billions in their divorce, and she pledged to give away billions as a result.
03:48There's a really palpable string between the two.
03:51They can make decisions based on what they want to do
03:54and support causes that truly mean something to them
03:57instead of kind of having to conform to a role that they feel like maybe they were placed in
04:03as a result of being a wife of a high-powered billionaire tech exec.
04:13You're right. You're right.
04:15You're right. You're right.
04:17You're right.