Melinda French Gates Talks Divorce From Bill Gates: “I Couldn’t Trust What We Had”

Philanthropist Melinda French Gates has opened up about her very public divorce from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates after 27 years of marriage.

Following revelations about an affair Gates had in 2000, French Gates ultimately concluded it was time to part ways. “I certainly believe in forgiveness, so I thought we had worked through some of that. It wasn’t one moment or one specific thing that happened. There just came a point in time where there was enough there that I realized it just wasn’t healthy, and I couldn’t trust what we had,” she told CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King in a short trailer released on Wednesday, ahead of the full interview to air on Thursday.

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French Gates added that their divorce, first announced in May 2021, was emotional. “Look, I had a lot of tears for many days, I mean, days where I’m literally laying on the floor and the carpet this close to me,” she revealed as a hand was pressed to her face.

“And I’m literally thinking, ‘How can this be? How can I get up? How am I gonna move forward?'” she recalled.

French Gates also conceded she felt profound anger. “That’s part of the grieving process. You’re grieving a loss of something you thought you had and thought you had for your lifetime. I mean, this is painful stuff,” she told King.

“You're grieving a loss of something you thought…you had for your lifetime”: In an exclusive interview with @GayleKing, Melinda French Gates opens up about the grieving process after she ended her marriage with Bill Gates.

Watch the full interview tomorrow on #CBSMornings. pic.twitter.com/iDt8u14pu4

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) March 2, 2022

But French Gates also said she is steadily coming through to the other side, to look ahead to the rest of her life.

“I started on this journey of healing and I feel like I’m starting to get to the other side. And I do feel like I’m turning a page in the chapter now. I mean, it’s 2022 and I’m actually really excited about what’s to come and life ahead for me,” she said.

French Gates and her former husband launched the world’s largest charitable foundation and pledged to work together at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.