Breakups are hard, even if you’re guaranteed to walk away a billionaire.
Philanthropist Melinda French Gates’ divorce from Bill Gates was years in the making — and presaged by nightmares and bouts of panic that made her face her feelings, she told People in an interview.
Gates and French Gates announced their split in a joint statement in 2021. In her upcoming memoir, “The Next Day,” she wrote about her feelings leading up to their official divorce. French Gates said she experienced cryptic nightmares beginning in 2019 that left her in a panic. The final blow was a vision of herself plummeting into a void while her family stood on the edge of a cliff.
French Gates wrote that that was the moment she knew it was time for her to make a big life decision on her own. In 2020, she told her then-husband that she wanted to live separately.
“It was one of the scariest conversations I’d have had,” she wrote.
However, Gates was “understanding and respectful” upon hearing the news, though he was “sad and upset,” according to French Gates. Months later, in the summer of 2020, she asked him for a divorce.
Her panicked feelings didn’t end with that revelation. French Gates said she started “having panic attacks” in the months during and leading up to their divorce proceedings.
“Bill has a reputation for being one of the toughest negotiators in the world,” French Gates wrote.
Their divorce was finalized in August 2021 after “grueling” and lengthy proceedings, she wrote in the memoir. She walked away with $6.3 billion worth of Microsoft stock, and her net worth is an estimated $30 billion, according to Forbes.
These days, French Gates is continuing her philanthropic endeavors through her company, Pivotal Ventures, and reportedly dating. She was spotted holding hands with entrepreneur and former Microsoft employee Phillip Vaughn in late 2024.
Correction: April 2, 2025 — Corrects French Gates’ estimated net work to $30 billion, not $30 million.
