Melinda French Gates Talks ‘Painful’ Divorce from Bill, Broken Trust

Melinda French Gates is getting candid about her divorce from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in her first TV interview about the split.

Gates sat down with “CBS Mornings” anchor Gayle King in an exclusive interview set to air on Thursday, opening up about their “painful” breakup in May after 27 years of marriage.

In a preview, Gayle says, “After the news was announced, it was revealed that Bill Gates had admitted that he had had an affair in the marriage, and at that time did you think, ‘We’re going to work through this’? How did you handle something like that?”

"Well, I certainly believe in forgiveness, so I thought we had worked through some of that," French Gates explained. "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."

Looking back at the split, Melinda said, "I had a lot of tears for many days,” recalling lying on the floor thinking, "How can this be? How can I get up? How am I gonna move forward?"

She said there were days she was “angry,” insisting, "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."

The 57-year-old went on, "I mean, this is painful stuff,” saying she’s now in a better place. “And at the end of the day, though, 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."

In August, Bill opened up to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, calling the split a “sad milestone.”

He added, “Melinda is a great person and that partnership that we had coming to an end is a source of great personal sadness.”

The billionaire said they are still planning to work together at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, saying, “We are communicating and working at the foundation, so that partnership we are going to try and continue… We always enjoyed our work together. 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.”

The exes announced their split on Twitter in May 2021. At the time, they shared, “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. 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. 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. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”