Bill Gates admits divorcing Melinda Gates is the ‘mistake’ he most regrets

“I’m more cheerful now,” he said in an interview with the Times of London, published on Saturday, but added that the unravelling of his marriage is “the mistake I most regret”.

Though he might have other failures, the Microsoft co-founder, 69, said the divorce is “at the top of the list”.

“There are others but none that matter,” he said. “The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years.”

The pair — who are both dating other people now — have maintained a friendly relationship following their split.

“Melinda and I still see each other — we have three kids and two grandchildren so there are family events. The kids are doing well. They have good values,” Mr Gates said.

Elsewhere in the profile, the billionaire said the couple’s marriage kept him “grounded” as he created his trillion-dollar company.

Bill and Melinda married in 1994 and share kids Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22. The couple confirmed their split in May 2021, though they’d been separated for a year before the announcement.

Melinda, 60, said that being separated during the Covid pandemic helped give her clarity about the state of their marriage.

“It gave us the privacy to do what needed to be done in private,” she said in a June 2024 interview.

Though, the philanthropist has also admitted that while their split was the “healthier choice”, it was the “lowest moment” in her life.

Melinda reportedly walked away with $US76 billion ($120 billion) in the divorce.

During a 2022 interview with Savannah Guthrie, Bill admitted he “caused pain” when she confronted him about a report that he’d had an affair with a Microsoft employee.

“I certainly made mistakes, and I take responsibility,” he replied, adding, “I don’t think delving into the particulars at this point is constructive, but yes, I caused pain, and I feel terrible about that.”

Melinda, meanwhile, said another factor that led to the end of the marriage was Bill’s relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made that clear to him,” she told Gayle King in 2022. “He was abhorrent. He was evil personified.”

Mr Gates has called his working relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, a “mistake”.

Melinda revealed her relationship with boyfriend Philip Vaughn in October 2024.

She was spotted holding hands with the entrepreneur as they stepped out for dinner at Le Bernardin in New York City.

Meanwhile, Mr Gates has been dating Oracle chief executive Mark Hurd’s widow, Paula Hurd, since 2023.

This article originally appeared on Page Six and was reproduced with permission