It should be pretty clear by now that Bill and Melinda Gates’ divorce is a lot messier than we originally thought. There was the $1.8 billion initial stock transfer to Melinda from Bill, which just reads as his guilty conscience. There were the stories about his annual “long weekend” vacations with an ex-girlfriend. And there’s the persistent issue of Bill and Melinda’s dirty divorce details appearing in the media. TMZ has sources in the Gates camp, which is mind-blowing. You would think tens of billions of dollars would be able to buy your privacy from TMZ!! So now that the Gates divorce is all over TMZ, Bill and Mel are like any other B-list celebrity couple, running to People Magazine to do some damage control:
Bill and Melinda Gates may have announced their split to the world this week, but the decision to end their marriage was not one that came about suddenly. A source tells PEOPLE that a “combo of things” led them to call it quits after 27 years of marriage, and that the recent timing reflects the fact that their youngest child, daughter Phoebe, is now an adult.
“It’s absolutely because their youngest child is graduating from high school, and the idea was that they stayed together through that,” the source says. “They limped through until their kids were out of school like a lot of people.”
Phoebe celebrated her 18th birthday in September. Bill, 65, and Melinda, 56, are also parents to son Rory, 21, and daughter Jennifer, 25, who called her parents’ split “a challenging stretch of time for our whole family.”
Melinda filed for divorce from her billionaire Microsoft co-founder husband on Monday in documents that indicate she and Gates have a separation agreement in place — something the source says is likely part of a plan to keep things as civil and private as possible between the former couple, who have said they still plan to work together at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Nobody is going to want to invite more scrutiny because it’ll hurt their credibility,” the source says. “I don’t think they’re so angry that anybody wants to take each other down, like you sometimes see. [Melinda is] not incentivized for that.”
With the pair putting on a united front in regards to their foundation, which they launched in 2000, they’ll keep one specific aspiration at play, the source says: a Nobel Prize. “They were really interested in trying to win a Nobel Prize,” according to the source. “So one thing that was part of this is, if it gets worse, then it ends that. It seems as if that was on the agenda, and that’s for both of them.”
Holy sh-t, this is the damage control and the sources can’t even put a happy face on it. I laughed out loud at “They limped through until their kids were out of school…” They could literally buy whole-ass states away from each other and these two billionaires were out there, limping through the last years of marriage through gritted teeth. And again with the remarks about how Melinda *could* destroy Bill if she wanted. Holy hell.
There’s an added layer to all of this which I haven’t really wanted to discuss, because it’s just… a lot. It involves Jeffrey Epstein, and Bill and Melinda Gates meeting with Epstein after his plea deal with the feds. Bill and Mel met Epstein many times in 2011-2013. The Gateses were photographed with him in New York in 2013 and according to the Daily Beast, “Melinda told friends after the encounter how uncomfortable she was in the company of the wealthy sex offender and how she wanted nothing to do with him.” Bill’s friendship with Epstein “still haunts Melinda,” according to their friends. There are more meetings between Bill Gates and Epstein than most people realize, and Bill even accepted a plane ride on the Lolita Express down to Florida, and Epstein pitched him on several different business and charitable endeavors. Gross.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
I just hope she gets half their fortune and puts it to good use like Mackenzie Bezos.
And that he is shammed worldwide for his antics in regards to jumping in and creating the vaccine protection by developing IP so that it creates greater boundaries for less fortunate countries access to life saving vaccines. I hope he bursts from being such an abhorrent POS, that he is, for creating the IP in regards to life saving measures desperately needed around the globe.
what are you talking about? he hasn’t developed any IP for vaccine protection.
This! I’m not buying his good guy act. Or his operating system.
IP for vaccine protection? That doesn’t even make sense. The drug companies got their patents fast tracked by the FDA. What does Bill have anything to do with it? That sounds kinda fox-newsy. Can you please clarify what you are talking about?
Gates and the Gates foundation developed a formula for distribution of vaccinations. His bid was to organize the development and distribution of everything from therapeutics to testing, and to subsidize vaccine deals with poor countries through donations by, and sales to, richer ones. The goal was always limited, to provide vaccines for up to 20 percent of the population in low-to-middle-income countries. After that, governments would largely have to compete on the global market like everyone else. The movement calling for a “people’s vaccine” warned this would create a dual crisis of supply and access, with intellectual property at the center of both. So in other words, the Gates Foundation is laying the groundwork for big pharma to enrich themselves off a global pandemic and this will especially affect poor countries that don’t have a healthy medical care system, as we can see from what’s unfolding in India.
That’s not what happened. He was asked in an interview if the patents for the vaccines should be shared, and his opinion was no, for logistical manufacturing reasons. After rightly getting a ton of blowback on that, the Foundation reversed course and now says they support it.
https://www.geekwire.com/2021/gates-foundation-reverses-position-covid-vaccine-patent-protections-mounting-pressure/
@Lucy2 – it actually did happen back in 2019 and 2020 and has been reported in a number of business magazines. Yes, he was also asked in the interview this year if patents should be shared and when he said no he caught all kinds of hell for it so we’re both right.
I hope she gets half his fortune and they both get wealth taxed to not be billionaires, but I’ll settle for a McKenzie Bezos situation because I know the pipe dream will never happen.
This is getting creepier by the day, isn’t it?
Yes… I knew he was in the Epstein financial world, but now I’m thinking he was probably also on the Epstein Island world. Given the Gateses have daughters, Melinda’s response it understandable.🤮
Yes, but Melinda comes off well. She did not meet with Epstein “many times.” Bill did. There can be only one reason why he rode Lolita Express or was at Jeffrey’s late into the evening. Ugh.
I’m convinced the JE angle was the catalyst. One billion in hush money stocks. I wonder if the whole truth will ever be revealed because we know BC is in there too…
^^^And then this here. There was one billion in hush money stocks? When billionaires divorce money changes hands. Fact. And of course, whenever they throw in Clinton’s name I know what I’m dealing with.
It’s still very possible Gates had no involvement in that. Epstein did keep up a long façade of rich philanthropist for a reason. A lot of what you are going to read online are GOP operatives, and Qanon loons. Fact.
I’m not a Qnon conspirator or a Republican. BG and BC mingled with JE under the guise of philanthropy. As the article states she has something that could “destroy” him. Sure seems like where this could go.
Wondering why all these powerful men were “friends” with Epstein isn’t in the same league as being a QAnon follower. They knew exactly who he was, especially after his conviction, and still maintained relationships st
with him. Fact.
there are a LOT of folks who were in Epstein’s orbit who were not accused of any type of child rape or trafficking.
was it squicky of them to associate with Epstein, esp after his plea deal? yes, absolutely. extremely gross. but that doesn’t make them rapists or traffickers.
I would bet that Bill looking the other way on Epstein’s crimes in order to facilitate philanthropical dealings would be enough for her to be like “yeah, I’m done.”
Exactly What. Until I hear from a victim that she was trafficked to either of the Bill’s, I am not jumping to any conclusions. Notice how anyone who brings up the Bills, always, ALWAYS fail to mention Epstein actually used Trump’s “modeling” agency as a blue print for his trafficking organization. I just find so many agendas online, and also, some of them are paid actors. It’s a crazy subject, and I need to see evidence or hear from a victim, period.
Oh please. Associating with a convicted felon like Epstein deserves major side eye regardless of whether or not said men engaged in those activities. It’s not a good look full stop.
Hmmm…not that much of a “Qnon conspiracy”, Darla ☺
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/may/10/melinda-bill-gates-divorce-jeffrey-epstein-meetings?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1620652970
I read an article this morning that she contacted divorce lawyers in 2019, shortly after an article dropped that exposed how much time Bill had spent with JE.
Good for her? There shouldn’t be billionaires, but I have more faith she’ll continue with philanthropy, with or without a Nobel prize.
But if you won the Lottery, you’d see it differently.
@Joan Rivers, nobody wins a billions in the lottery.
People who still think staying together “for the kids” is anything but a disservice to everyone involved are so stupid. It does NOT feel good to be the kid(s) forcing your parents to suffer and limp along in misery. It doesn’t actually hide anything and it sets a poor example for the kids. Plus, miserable parents often make other people around them miserable and uncomfortable.
Just ridiculous and dumb.
As a survivor of this scenario, and witness to many others, I cosign. People do so much damage to their kids in the name of ‘staying together for the kids.’ In my experience it really means staying together long enough that you REALLY can’t stand each other by the time the divorce comes. I’m so sorry for those kids, and all the others who have seen this firsthand.
As a parent, I have a different view of the ‘for the kids’ thing. It’s like, I really want to get a divorce from my husband — but I don’t want to have less time with my kid – so this is why I am still married. I want to see my kid every single day, not just part time. So I can understand why people might stay in a marriage past its due date when kids are involved.
Same. It’s so deeply damaging. Sure, parents get to see their kids every day, but yay for the kids, we get to be in therapy for the rest of our lives. Win for the parents? Not. No one wins.
@Laura. I sympathize with your position, but it’s actually pretty selfish. As several others have said here, the kids know their parents are miserable.
I knew it. It was so bad that when they did finally split and I was sent to the school counselor to “help me cope,” I told her it was a relief that they were finally splitting up. I only wished it had come sooner. It would have saved me a lot of anxiety and sleepless nights.
Laura, I totally understand where you are coming from. Having your kids only 50% of the time because your partner sucks is untenable, IMO. Especially if you need to be there to ensure the kids aren’t ignored, get emotional support, complete their homework, make it to their extracurriculars, and have some healthy food to eat sometimes. Sometimes the other partner will not do that and if they aren’t abusive, it can be better to stay. I see people think that might still be selfish, but everone’s situation is different.
+1000
Signed, another person whose parents stayed in a unhappy unhealthy marriage for way too long “for the kids” Living in a home with parents who don’t love each other, and maybe can’t stand each other but are “staying together” for whatever reason can cause lots of emotional and psychological damage to kids, damage that lasts well into adulthood and maybe through their entire lives.
There may be rare outlier families where financially it may be dangerous to split (with often the mother and children left in poverty) but even then staying together may not be the best move. Anecdotally I can tell you my life got markedly BETTER when my parents finally split even though it meant mom was raising 6 kids alone on a very small paycheck while dad hired an expensive lawyer who helped him hide assets and fake expenses so he wound up paying almost nothing in child support. Yeah it was stressful to go diving under the car seats hoping to find a couple of quarters to put gas in the car. But it was much less stressful that living in a home where there was constant conflict, the kids were walking on eggshells to not set things off (don’t kid yourself… the kids KNOW things aren’t good and may feel like they deserve the blame for it) and an explosive fight or icy silence could kick in at any moment.
If nothing else, think about what kind of example you’re setting for your kids. If you wouldn’t want them staying in a marriage JUST like yours, don’t model that behavior for them. And think about every day you stay, that’s another day you delay putting your life back together and showing your kids how to build a happy functioning life.
I’m heading into retirement as a single, never-married woman thanks to my parents’ dysfunctional marriage. Looking back on my prime dating years, I’m sure I came off as needy and emotionally volatile, IOW, high-maintenance. There were the bouts of depression and crushingly low self-esteem when a relationship didn’t work out. I had nothing on which to model my behavior. My parents never, ever came together to solve a problem or work through an issue — they’d either get in a screaming match or silently seethe with resentment. I’m wiser now thanks to therapy, but I’m also older and fatter, and men have completely written me off. TL;DR – I would never advise a couple to stay together “for the kids.”
@laura, when I first got separated, nearly 4 years ago, I remember I had lunch with a friend. And when I told her I was getting divorced , the parenting schedule 50/50, she couldn’t even hide her horror, and blurted “omg, I could never not see my kids every day” and then suggested that me and my ex should buy side by side townhouses so that I could seem kids everyday.
So that was the last time we had lunch together and since quarantine…well I’ve managed to have enough reasons to cut her out of my life.
I also had other “friends” suggest i should consider staying with him “for the children” even my dentist! Dentist was injecting novocaine and launched into an “importance of marriage counselling” lecture on me. If he hadn’t had literally a syringe in my jaw, I would have left immediately.
I guess my point is, 1. If you have friends getting divorced, do not share with them your views on parenting and marriage. You haven’t lived their life, and you don’t know. You are expecting your kids and you would fall a part if you had to be apart a few days. Somehow millions of us survived it, and don’t regret enjoying my kidless time to focus on my life and career. And 2. Staying for the kids” means you accepting a lesser life. A life that is not fulfilling or happy. You get one life, you need to live it, it was not supposed to be given away. And no one like a martyr anyway.
This. My parents did this and it was awful. We could tell and felt responsible (and were sometimes told) for their unhappiness. It’s a terrible burden to put on a child. Divorce is always hard, but happier parents might have made us happier kids.
Honestly, I wonder if their home life was truly that much different from being divorced and still co-parenting. Probably not. But when you have that much money at stake, filing for divorce and going through the paperwork, meetings, negotiations etc. must take months. They probably set that aside so they could focus on their child before she left for university. Makes sense.
Yes. That’s how I was raised and it took a lot of time and effort (and therapy) into changing my beliefs in what a marriage and partnership should look like.
Growing up with miserable, sad and angry parents makes you miserable, sad and angry.
Exactly. It’s selfish of parents to “stay together for the kids”. You’re doing nothing but a disservice to the children and permanently scarring them. Just f-ing get divorced already. Your children aren’t happy if you aren’t.
Co-sign. My parents fortunately didn’t do it for long but let me tell anyone who will listen that life was SO much better after they split. I got so sick of ‘Sarah go and play in the garden’ every five minutes when they wanted to scream at each other in the house. UGH.
The timing still doesn’t make sense. I have a senior in high school, and right now she is choosing her university, preparing to graduate, slogging through her final credits, etc. If they wanted to “wait until the kids were grown” to announce, they would do it after she made it through these big milestones, not right in the middle. They’re either trying to get ahead of something by filing now, or they’re really selfish parents. Or both.
I’m going to go with both. It’s a terrible time to have your life turned on its head although the daughter may have known something was rotten in the state of Denmark so to speak for a long time in regards of them being ‘together’.
I hard agree. I’m sure Phoebe isn’t feeling great being told that her parents “limped through their marriage” for her. Your kids sense your misery and it affects them.
YES! This. “staying together for the kids” is a cop out. What kid wants to be raised in a house with miserable parents? It is a horrible role model for what a relationship should be.
They’re not normal people, though. Staying together until the youngest turns 18 means avoiding a custody battle that will likely cost tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars, and which will be widely covered in the press. It means protecting the chance for that Nobel prize both of them want so much.
If you can manage a mostly separate, safe, cushy life it WOULD protect the kids more by staying together for a couple of years.
That’s what I’m thinking. They both knew it was over, but rather than have to go through the whole custody thing, they waited.
Considering their wealth, they could have easily been living in separate homes, or just separate wings of the same home, so it isn’t like most regular families trying to tough it out together.
But their daughter turned 18 9 months ago. Why did they wait? And why announce right now when she’s in the middle of graduating/picking a college/etc.? Why not wait another month or two until she’s had her moment or until she’s officially out of the house? It’s a crappy thing to do to your kid. As is using your kids as an excuse for the timing of your divorce.
When the news first broke, they seemed like a couple that had grown apart. This PR mess is making them both seem worse by the day. And like they have something to hide and are using their kids as shields.
salmonpuff, it sounds like the legal separation agreement and money agreement was a long time in the making. In order to have things go more smoothly, with their high-profile, they may have wanted all that ironed out before the news hit. So all the kids may have known for a year or more.
I had friends with divorced parents growing up and they were closer to them than I was and my parents still lived in the same house with us & stayed together for the kids. Divorced 6 months after I, their youngest kid, graduated high school. The last few years involved sleeping in separate bedrooms, little to no interaction my dad would just go to his bedroom as soon as he got home from work
The kids all know what’s going on. In this situation where there didn’t have to be any change of school or lifestyle I see no reason that they waited for three years.
Ooph, while I don’t think this will make anti vaxxers any less likely to refuse the covid shot, the memes are just going to get worse. This sucks.
It is a lot, and because the whackanons have been on this i don’t know what is real and what isn’t.
Exactly. So many doofuses have projected their conspiracies on Gates in recent years, including but not limited to Jeffrey Epstein and vaccine microchips, it’s impossible to tell what is true and what is gossip for conspiracy nuts.
I find it impossible, that’s for sure. 🙂
A lot of people do tend to “stay for the kids” so I’m not surprised to hear their marriage has been struggling for a few years now. And this makes me think the Epstein connection to Bill is far deeper than a few meetings. Will have to see if any more details regarding that come out.
Jesus christ. Messy is the correct word. Could it have anything to do with the Ghislaine trial set for this summer? I can imagine that there are a few things about to be exposed
Ugh!!!! I just knew there had to be an Epstein angle and here we are! These billionaire white men are so predictable.
The Epstein angle is trying to be played by Melinda like she put her foot down and stands for something. If it bothered her so much she could’ve divorced him years ago when this happened. I’m not buying that she’ll be anything like Macenzie Bezos, seems just like Bill to me.
I wondered that too D, did she know about JE’s plea deal before the meetings? If she did and went anyway, why is she complaining now?
I was about to write that the Epstein part was an issue and due to the youngest not yet being 18 yet, she sat on the divorce BUT all I have read is how they would not go to court and she would not ask for spousal so that makes me think the 18 year old factor about the youngest is a smoke screen. This story is like COVID: no rhyme or reason but it’s happening.
I never understood parents who are at the point that they dislike each other trying to hold it together for their children’s sake. It’s not a healthy environment for a child to grow up in, it puts the responsibility of the marriage’s continuation on the child’s shoulder. Children notice things, it’s better to call it quits divorce and be responsible about keeping it healthy for the children. Anyways if Melinda was especially concerned about her husband’s friendship with Epstein it can get really messy.
Sometimes letting them stay with the other parent alone 50% of the time isn’t healthy, either. I totally see why some folks just wait it out.
But custody and where they stay should be a different decision than whether to stay married. And if one parent is unfit, why expose the kids to that *in their home* every day? Address those issues during the divorce.
Putting responsibility for staying married on children is not a good plan.
@North of Boston, unfortunately if you get a bad judge, the unfit parent could still end up with custody. I’ve seen horrific examples of this. If the other parent isn’t outright abusive I can see someone staying to keep steady contact with the kids.
Some times the financial component factors in. Often divorce means selling the home, downsizing and possibly changing schools. Clearly not the case with the Gates’.
It is not possible to be a billionaire through any form of honest work. The only way you become a billionaire is through wage theft and not paying your fair share of taxes within the society you belong to. So, not good people. Also, you’re a mom with wealth that cannot be spent in 250 lifetimes? When your husband starts hanging with a pedophile, don’t wait, pack up the kids and run!
That’s where I side-eye Melinda. If she knew there was something weird about Bill and Epstein’s relationship/friendship/partnership, she should have made the threat to divorce then. She has more than enough money AND social clout to get herself and her daughter away from it.
Exactly. *Now* is when she starts crying? Please. It’s because the trial is coming up and she wants to get out scot free.
THIS.
Note: this is all based on what I’ve read here on CB re Gates’ divorce- all my speculation and opinions are based on hearsay and not fact (which seem to be very muddy at this point).
I’m going to be a b-tch and say I hope that if Gates’ relationship with Epstein is indeed a large part of what she holds over him, that she does expose whatever it is that’s worth $1.8 billion of hush money. I will go further to say that she has an obligation to inform/cooperate with law enforcement. The bottom line is:
Men in positions of power have to be held accountable for their actions.
If she knows something that could help the victims of Epstein get justice, she owes it to them. Otherwise she’s complicit in pertuating this cycle of silence, further entrenching the gross privileges of wealth where money literally can buy you anything. Including the bodies and lives of humans.
Exactly!
Good god, could they not just issue a “we love each other and will remain good friends” statement and be done with it?
I’ve got some info re the Gates from a, colleague. the long time friend is not important at all. Yes, the marriage has had issues for a long time. And the Epstein is for sure an issue. It’s not money laundering,it’s legitimate divorce manoeuvre. 2 Mil is nothing to these people.
Not 2 million, but 1.8 billion! Still, probably small change for them.
I don’t know, the fact everyone was so blindsided by the filing, and never really any gossip/whispers over the years, makes me question the credibility of all these leaks and sources. What is interesting to me is, aside from what is being surmised about the Epstein mess being a factor, is the gossip about the split reasons are so intellectual, ie not about a jump off or affairs, but different visions for philanthropic focus, vaccine funding/distribution, etc.
She met with JE several times after his conviction? And now that GM is about to go on trial, they are getting a divorce and saying the timing is because of the kids age? No.
Since we are playing concoct a theory…
JE had something on Bill and blackmailed the Gates. That’s what the meetings were about. Now they are afraid it will all come out at trial and assets will be lost. So the divorce is an attempt for Melinda to save face and to save money.
I don’t care how upset she is, if she participated in a cover up, especially with JE, there is no forgiveness for that. I really hope all this isn’t true.
I agree with your theory. I think Melinda knew at least some of what Bill was up to. But like the annual vacation with the ex, the deal is it was supposed to be discreet. Pretty sure she started getting her ducks in a row once it was becoming clear certain things were eventually going to become public.
That could be. That Netflix special implied that a big chunk of Epstein’s wealth came from blackmailing his “friends”. That and ” introductions”. Bill Gates is a big fish to catch so I’m not surprised he is caught in the net.
According to the timeline, Melinda met with Epstein once and said he was gross. But, you are right that the timing is bizarre.
“2013 was four years after Epstein was sentenced to prison for soliciting a minor under the age of 18 for sex.
“The meeting was reportedly on the same day that the couple accepted the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award at the Pierre Hotel in New York City.
In this same year, Bill Gates is reported to have flown with Epstein on his private jet from New Jersey to Palm Beach, Florida.
https://www.newsweek.com/bill-gates-jeffrey-epstein-timeline-friendship-relationship-1590004
Royal Watchers: Does anyone remember the rumours a few years ago that Haakon and MM of Norway (the Crown Princes) were going through marriage problems/going to get a divorce? The rumours said that it was because MM was having an affair with Billy Gates! I randomly remembered that today. (And the Gates and the CP of Norway were very close around that time: hanging out/borrowing yachts and houses and the like. Then it just stopped. Cold turkey.)
I do remember that, along with Mette-Marit being in Epstein’s little black book.
I’m sorry but Bill Gates is totally unappealing, romance wise. Maybe if he’s laying on a bed of his money?
Mette-Marit has always been drawn to rich, powerful, famous, celebrities. Hanging out on vacation with Versace’s sister, secretly flying to NYC for the Met Ball. All while claiming she had such a fear of flying, she couldn’t be expected to fly for royal tours.
I dunno, I find it easier to just imagine that living with Bill Gates wasn’t a picnic. I don’t think there needs to be a huge conspiracy or ties to someone JE for this marriage to fail.
I also think that just because they rubbed elbows with JE some years ago doesn’t make me think they necessarily had deep ties with that mess. Tons and tons of people must maneuver to get near the Gates’ fortune, and that would almost certainly include some shady SOBs like JE.
i hate that people act like mackenzie and melinda aren’t also culpable in the many crimes their husbands commit. these women are absolutely complicit in all of the shit these men pull. they uphold and enable every last one of their actions, like so many white women continue to uphold and enable white supremacy and misogyny.
I think ANYONE who hordes money while exploiting poor folks is deplorable…so yes…I ALWAYS found Gates deplorable…but after reading his Epstein antics this weekend…I find him disgusting…ESPECIALLY that late night get together with his rich friends and Epstein…including their 15 year old daughter..
Seriously…WTF🤬
Do you have a link to what you read? I’m curious.
Right? I don’t even know if you can horde money without exploiting folk.
Also seems like a lot of hes not a pedo sexual trafficker, he’s just friends w a pedo. Cuz like he had money they HAD to be friends.
Low bar for billionaires
What!?! Link please.
Glad to see you post again, Lala11_7
Gunning for a Nobel Prize?
I’ve heard of people gunning for the Nobel, but it’s people who aren’t superwealthy whose fortunes would be transformed; or it is competitive people in their area of expertise.
Bill and Microsoft climbed to where they are with ruthless, despicable behavior that held no regard for others in their field. They literally ruined lives. I always thought that this turn to give to the poorest and the neediest was typical rich person behavior. Now I guess Bill and Melinda want take the world stage to receive thanks. I guess ethical behavior in fortune building doesn’t count; and lord knows they’ve received accolades aplenty that support that.
Thinking empathetically, if I had any notion that my extremely rich and high profile husband was spending time with a preditor our daughter’s age, I would either choose to stay married and maintain a 24/7 presence to assure that my daughter was never harmed, or I would choose to destroy the reputation of my husband, our foundation, and myself in a divorce fight that would expose husband’s actions in order to deny physical him custody rights.
Whew, some of the comments about staying together for the kids are harsh. I mean, I guess Melinda has a ton of resources, so maybe it’s different. But I’ve stayed in a lot of sh%& because unless you’ve heard your special needs kid scream for you and not Dad, and honestly Dad is gone more than he is here, it’s just easier. I have no desire to try to fight to keep my kids with me every day. The system makes it VERY hard for parents to keep children from the other, just look at Josh Duggar. I mean, I’m not dealing with anything JE level, but it is not a simple circumstance AT ALL. It isn’t selfish on my part, as it isn’t for many women. If anything, seeing that this is hard for MG has made me feel better about the ways I am managing.
I see you and I agree with you. You are a good mom, doing what’s best for your kid, and anyone that says otherwise is full of it.
You are wonderful. May you and your child find all the love and happiness life has
Couldn’t agree more!
I also felt previous comments were quite harsh. Most mothers that stay in a marriage they are no longer happy in are choosing to protect their children, not traumatise them.
Sometimes people are stuck in difficult circumstances and it’s not as easy as “get a divorce”. A lot of mothers can be left in financial ruin because of a divorce, or they cannot ensure their child’s well-being or who their child will be exposed to if they have to share custody.
I don’t think we should be so judgmental.
THIS. I agree with other commenters that BG’s continued association with JE doesn’t mean he himself is a criminal predator. But if I were in a marriage where my husband was deciding to consort with an indicted pedophile, I would never trust him with a custody arrangement with my children.
I would certainly weigh out what a public tell all custody battle would do to my child, versus finding space in that 66,000 square foot house to wait it out.
And it is striking that all that wealth doesn’t change this dilemma.
Sending you all good thoughts and I understand. Before we had children or were married (but knew we wanted both), my husband (parents married, divorced and were (then) on third partners each) had me read “The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25 Year Landmark Study” which I did and, let me tell you, it stays with you over a decade later.
Dang these two are really thirsty for that Nobel prize. Why would the Gates’ open themselves to that type of exposure with Epstein? Maxwell will be going on trial soon so who knows what may come out with that, so would not be surprised if the timing of this divorce or at least the public news on it is to get ahead of it. Also, 1.8 billion is a pittance compared to Gates’ actual fortune, now estimated at 129.7 billion.
All billionaires are evil.
Why stay married just waiting for the kids to turn 18?
Life is short, unhappy for years is a big no in my book.
At their wealth level, they could have divorced decades ago and lived separate lives happily.
Man, I don’t even want to know what kind of weird, sick stuff Epstein and his foul “friends” were involved in .
May they all burn in hell.
I hope Melinda does start her own foundation and goes forward using that enormous wealth to truly do things.
That charity agreement that Buffet started is a fine idea but, to me, why wait to donate?
I’ll tell you why. It’s all about power, ego, and control. No one should have a personal wealth $1billion.
My parents divorced and there were no words to describe the relief it was.
Everyone, us kids, their close family and friends wished it had happened much sooner.
They truly hated one another.
They were told by many idiots to stay together for the kids, for Jesus, for finances, for property, for fill in the blank for random or specific stupid whatever to name it.
This was a mistake.
Not because they were violent or abusive but because they became so much happier, healthier, better apart.
It had been decades and sometimes when I encounter someone going through the same, the kindest thing you can do is not to advise but to listen. Guarantee, there has been years of effort, struggle, compromise, disrespect, giving up, giving in, repression… no one going through that needs more shame.
Rumor has it-Melinda started talking to lawyers in 2019 after everything came out about Epstein and his death-I feel like she maybe conforted him about Jeffrey and his dealings with him-Probably did not like what she heard-Just my opinion
This just kills me, because the Foundation has done so much good work. I’ve lived in Africa for the most part of 20 years, and worked with them many times. I have good friends who work for the Foundation – people I respect and who I know would never in a million years be OK with what happened with Epstein.
What a shame. I guess we’ll see what comes out, but seriously, what a shame. I hope to God it was only running in the same circles, but I doubt nothing at this point – every time I think I’ve seen it all, I see something new.