Melinda French Gates has spoken out for the first time since the release of Epstein files that contained mentions of her ex-husband, Bill Gates.
Speaking on NPR’s Wild Card podcast, French Gates said: “I think we’re having a reckoning as a society, right? No girl, no girl should ever be put in the situation that they were put in by Epstein and whatever was going on with all of the various people around him.”
French Gates said she felt “unbelievable sadness” seeing her ex-husband’s name in the latest release of files relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“For me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up, right? Because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage,” she told the podcast.
“Whatever questions remain there of what — I can’t even begin to know all of it — those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband,” she said. “They need to answer to those things, not me.”
Late last week, the US Department of Justice released more than 3 million pages of files relating to its investigation into Epstein.
In drafted emails, Epstein appeared to suggest Bill Gates had contracted a sexually transmitted infection and asked him for help getting antibiotics that he could “surreptitiously” give to his then-wife.
One draft message from July 18, 2013, reads: “To add insult to the injury you then subsequently, with tears in your eyes, implore me to please delete the emails regarding your std, your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda, and the description of your penis.”
A spokesperson for Bill Gates told NPR: “These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, was one of many prominent men mentioned in the latest release of files.
Melinda and Bill Gates were married for 27 years. They divorced in 2021.
“I’m able to take my own sadness and look at those young girls and say, my God, how did that happen to those girls?” French Gates said on the podcast.
“At least for me, I’ve been able to move on in life, and I hope there’s some justice for those now-women.”