Bill And Melinda Gates Have Ended Their Marriage After 27 Years

May 04, 2021

After being married for 27 years, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates have announced their divorce. They both released a joint statement announcing their split on May 3, 2021. CNBC reported that despite the split, the couple will continue to work together on their charitable efforts. However, the financial implications of the split are not yet clear. BBC reported that Bill is the fourth wealthiest person in the world, and according to Forbes, is worth $124 billion. 

Bill is the co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft, but CNBC reported that he retired from his day-to-day duties at the company in 2008. Both Bill and Melinda have concentrated on their philanthropic efforts in the last few years and jointly run the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Their philanthropy efforts have addressed education, gender equality and health care since 2000 when they first launched their foundation. 

Bill and Melinda first met in 1987 when Melinda worked as a product manager at Microsoft, which was then still a young company. The two began dating after sitting together for a business dinner in New York. “It took him quite a few months before he asked me out,” Melinda said. 

BBC reported that Bill said in the Netflix documentary "Inside Bill’s Brain," "We cared a lot for each other and there were only two possibilities: either, we were going to break up or we were going to get married." 

The couple wed in 1994 on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, and BBC reported that they hired all the local helicopters to stop unwanted guests flying over. They share three children, Jennifer, 25, Rory, 21, and Phoebe, 18. 

In a joint statement released on their separate Twitter profiles, the couple stated, "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage." 

The statement continued, "Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives." The Gates' philanthropic work has been commended by people all over the world and has been able to change thousands of lives. 

The statement concluded, "We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in the next phase of our lives."

Jennifer Gates, their oldest child, also released a statement of her own after the news of her parents' divorce. NZ Herald reported that Jennifer wrote in her Instagram story that the divorce announcement came as a "challenging stretch of time" and like her parents, also requested privacy as the family navigates "the next phases of our lives."

"I'm still learning how to best support my own process and emotions as well as my family members at this time and am grateful for the space to do so," she concluded. It is not clear what Rory's thoughts are or if he has shared his views on social media profiles, and the youngest child, Pheobe, has a private social media account so her thoughts are also not known. However, we are sure this is a challenging time for everyone in the family. 

In the past, both Bill and Melinda have spoken about each other in interviews. In the Netflix documentary “Inside Bill’s Brain," Melinda said that she found Bill to be methodical even when it came to their love life because he began writing a list on a whiteboard with the "pros and the cons of getting married" before making the decision. Though they have supported each other through many challenges, their marriage has had its fair share of ups and downs. 

BBC reported that Melinda opened up about her struggles as the wife of a famous person and stay-at-home mother with three kids in her memoir, "The Moment of Lift." Working together on their foundation helped the couple become stronger. "He's had to learn how to be an equal, and I've had to learn how to step up and be an equal," she wrote.

Through the years, the couple found a way to make their relationship work and were in a better place. Melinda said in an interview in 2019, "Bill and I are equal partners. Men and women should be equal at work." Bill agreed and reiterated the thoughts in 2019 saying, "In the case of Melinda, it is a truly equal partner,” and added, “She’s a lot like me in that she is optimistic and she is interested in science. She is better with people than I am."

In 2015, the couple pursued their separate interests while working at the foundation; Bill established Breakthrough Energy, an initiative to slow climate change, and Melinda created Pivotal Ventures, an investment company focused on women and families. The financial implications of the split are not yet known. 

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