Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates has said her ex-husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, being named in new files relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein dredged up “painful times in my marriage”.
She told an NPR podcast she feels “unbelievable sadness” about the Epstein allegations and that the people named in the records, including her former husband, need to answer to it.
“I am so happy to be away from all the muck,” she said. The couple divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.
Records released by the US justice department include an allegation by Epstein that Bill Gates caught a sexually transmitted disease. He has called the claim “absolutely absurd”.
And yet…she still uses Gates in her name.
Still victim blaming. How do you decide what someone else chooses to be called? 27 years is a long time, and there are a lot of good reasons to hold onto a name even after the person you shared it with turns out to be bad for you. Does everyone who estranges from their father need to change their last name if that’s who they got it from?