风萧萧_Frank

以文会友

首页文章列表博文目录

个人资料

风萧萧_Frank

给我悄悄话

博客访问：

Melinda says she is friendly but not friends with Bill Gates

(2023-08-01 15:12:24) 下一个

Melinda French Gates says she is 'friendly' but not friends with Bill Gates

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/03/melinda-french-gates-friendly-bill-gates?

Billionaire says she gave 'every single piece of myself' to marriage to Microsoft co-founder and says many factors led to divorce

Melinda French Gates has addressed her divorce from Bill Gates publicly, saying that although she and the Microsoft co-founder are “friendly at this point”, she is not ready to label her relationship with Gates as “friends".

In a recent interview with CBS’s Gayle King, French Gates said multiple factors resulted in the couple’s high-profile divorce last May after 27 years of marriage.

"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. I couldn’t trust what we had,” the billionaire philanthropist said.

French Gates revealed that she cried numerous times during her marriage, sometimes while lying on the floor. “How can I get up? How am I going to move?” she would ask herself, she said.

“I gave every single piece of myself to this marriage. I was committed to this marriage on the day we got engaged and until the day I got out of it … but I also think society used to put things on women like it was our fault,” she said. “I did nothing wrong so I hold my head high.”

In 2021, Gates acknowledged that he had an affair with a Microsoft employee, which Microsoft asked its board to investigate shortly before his resignation from the board in 2020.

“There was an affair almost 20 years ago which ended amicably,” said Gates’s spokesperson Bridgitt Arnold.

Speaking about the affair, French Gates said she “certainly believe[s] in forgiveness, and so I thought we had worked through some of that”.

When asked about one report that claimed Gates had multiple affairs, French Gates said: “You know, I think those are questions Bill needs to answer.”

She said Bill Gates’s frequent meetings with financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein played a role in the divorce. She said: “I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein … I made that clear to him.”

She added that she met Epstein once, because “I wanted to see who this man was and I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door”.

“He was abhorrent, evil personified. I had nightmares about it afterwards,” French Gates said.

Pressed about Gates’s continued meetings with Epstein despite her disapproval, she said: “Any of the questions remaining about Bill’s relationship … those are for Bill to answer.”

French Gates said she will keep working with her former husband at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which they co-founded more than 20 years ago.

“We certainly have a working relationship and I would say we’re friendly at this point,” she said.

“Friends?” King asked.

French Gates said: “Friends is a different word for me … that might come over time but for me there’s still healing that needs to happen.”

She said that she is open to falling in love and dating again. “I hope that happens for me again. I’m dipping my toe in that water a little bit,” she said.

Last month, French Gates announced she would no longer be channeling the majority of her wealth through the Gates Foundation, one of the world’s largest philanthropic organizations.

“I think philanthropy is most effective when it prioritizes flexibility over ideology – and why in my work at the foundation and Pivotal Ventures I’ll continue to seek out new partners, ideas and perspectives,” French Gates wrote, referring to her investment and incubation company that she founded in 2015.

Melinda French Gates to no longer give bulk of wealth via Gates Foundation

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/02/melinda-french-gates-wealth-gates-foundation

Billionaire, who divorced from Bill Gates last year, to seek ‘new partners, ideas and perspectives’ outside philanthropic fund

Maya Yang 2 Feb 2022 15.22 GMT

Melinda French Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will no longer be channeling the majority of her wealth through the philanthropic organization.

According to the Wall Street Journal, French Gates still plans to distribute much of her fortune across philanthropic endeavors, but largely outside of the Gates Foundation, which is one of the world’s largest.

“I recognize the absurdity of so much wealth being concentrated in the hands of one person, and I believe the only responsible thing to do with a fortune this size is to give it away – as thoughtfully and impactfully as possible,” French Gates wrote in a new letter.

“The ultimate goal of any philanthropist should be to render the need for philanthropy obsolete,” the billionaire wrote. “It’s important to acknowledge that giving away money your family will never need is not an especially noble act. There’s no question in my mind that the real standard for generosity is set by the people who give even when it means going without.

“That’s why, as part of this pledge, I commit to doing more than writing checks. I also commit my time, energy, and efforts to the work of fighting poverty and advancing equality – for women and girls and other marginalized groups – in the United States and around the world.”

In 2010, French Gates and her then husband Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, launched The Giving Pledge, alongside billionaire investor Warren Buffett. The campaign encourages the world’s richest people to dedicate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes.

At the time, the former couple revealed in a joint letter that they have “committed the vast majority of our assets” to the Gates Foundation in efforts to address preventable death from various diseases and “tear down other barriers to health and education”.

However, since their divorce in 2021, French Gates and Gates have each penned individual letters detailing varying philanthropic commitments. In 2015, French Gates founded Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company that seeks to advance social and professional progress for women and families across the US.

In French Gates’ letter, she reiterated her commitment to giving away the vast majority of her wealth. “I think philanthropy is most effective when it prioritizes flexibility over ideology – and why in my work at the foundation and Pivotal Ventures I’ll continue to seek out new partners, ideas, and perspectives,” she wrote.

In a separate letter published by Gates, the Microsoft co-founder emphasized his philanthropic commitments to the Gates Foundation: “The foundation is my top philanthropic priority, even as my giving in other areas has grown over the years.”