Melinda French Gates is coming into her own.
In the new profile he published Time On Tuesday, June 18, the 59-year-old philanthropist and ex-wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates opened up about life after her divorce in 2021.
According to French Gates, she prefers the simplicity of her new abode to the opulence of her previous home, which she shared with her ex-husband, 68, and their three children.
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Jennifer Gates Nassar, Melinda French Gates and Phoebe Gates, 2023.
Paula Lobo/Getty
Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates celebrate daughter Jennifer’s 28th birthday
“I live in the neighborhood. Now I can walk to small shops. I can walk to the drugstore, I can walk to the restaurant,” she said of the outlet. “I absolutely love it.”
The couple filed for divorce in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage.
In his interview with TimeFrench Gates said the COVID-19 pandemic played an important role in their split.
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Melinda Gates and Bill Gates, September 2013.
Brian Ach/Getty
“It gave us the privacy to do what needed to be done alone,” she told the magazine. “You know, I was separated first before I made the full decision to divorce. And to be able to do that alone while still trying to take care of the kids, while still making certain decisions about how you’re going to untangle your life — thank God.”
Melinda French Gates opens up about ‘incredibly painful’ divorce: ‘I just couldn’t stay in that marriage’
She also discussed her plans going forward – which includes celebrating her 60th birthday in August.
“I feel like, ‘Wow, I’m 60. I better surround myself with people and still travel [so that] I’m still absolutely learning, because the world is moving, the world is changing,’ explained the former developer of multimedia products. “I am completely unencumbered to do as I please.”
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Melinda French Gates, May 2024.
Lisa Lake/Getty Images
And as a legally single woman, French Gates says “of course” she’s ready to meet “someone new.”
She was also honest about the qualities she was looking for.
According to French Gates, she’s interested in someone “who’s open to learning and who’s lively, who’s smart, and someone who challenges me and who I challenge.”
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During the conversation, she also spoke about her resignation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Her last day with the organization came on June 7.
“I thought a lot about my three children,” she says. “But I certainly thought about the effect on the foundation. These are the three biggest buckets: me, the children and the foundation. I wanted to make sure that all those pieces were intact when we went through it to the other side – when I went through it on my side – said French Gates Time.
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