Melinda Gates kicked her ex-husband to the curb over the latest Epstein files that alleged the Microsoft co-founder planned to slip his then-wife an antibiotic to combat a sexually transmitted disease he contracted from Russian girls.
The 61-year-old philanthropist, who divorced Bill Gates in 2021, said that those mentioned in the documents, including her ex, have some explaining to do.
During Tuesday’s episode of NPR’s Wild Card podcast, Melinda said she felt horribly sorry for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
‘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,’ she said, shaking her head.
She added: ‘It’s beyond heartbreaking. I remember being those ages those girls were, I remember my daughters being those ages.
‘So, 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 then made a sharp pivot, telling podcast host Rachel Martin that she had nothing to do with what had come to light.
‘I purposely pushed it away and I moved on. I’m in a really unexpected, beautiful place in my life. So whatever questions remain there of what, I don’t [and] can’t even begin to know all of it, those questions are for those people and even my ex-husband,’ she stated. ‘They need to answer those questions, not me.’
Melinda Gates responded to the allegations brought against her ex-husband, Bill Gates, in the Epstein files while appearing on NPR’s Wild Card podcast
Larry Summers, Jeffrey Epstein, Gates and Boris Nikolic at Epstein’s Manhattan house in 2011. This was among the three million files published by the Department of Justice last week
Melinda, who has two daughters and a son with Gates, added: ‘And I am so happy to be away from all the muck.’
When asked specifically about how the recent details about her ex-husband’s alleged affairs made her feel, she responded: ‘Sad. Just unbelievable sadness. Unbelievable sadness.’
Her comments come just days after a trove of new Epstein files was released, including an email that outlined shocking allegations about her former partner’s sex life.
A lengthy message, sent by Epstein to himself in July 2013, lashed out at Gates for ending their friendship and says: ‘TO add insult to the injury you them [sic] 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.’
Earlier in the same missive, Epstein said he had been ‘dismayed beyond comprehension’ by Gates’s decision to ‘disregard our friendship developed over the last six years.’
The emails were among the hundreds of thousands of Epstein files published by the Department of Justice on Friday morning.
The release also included multiple new, undated images of Epstein and Gates together in various locations.
The couple were married from 1994 to 2021. Melinda has cited Gates’s affairs and friendship with Epstein as reasons for the divorce but has not divulged further details
Friday’s release included multiple new undated images of Epstein and Gates together
Gates has previously said he regrets spending time with the pedophile, who died in a New York City jail in 2019, but has long denied any impropriety.
Over the years, Gates has sought to downplay his long-standing connection to Epstein, claiming the pair did not have a ‘business relationship or friendship’ and that all of their meetings were in group settings. He also previously denied attending any of the pedophile’s parties or going to his various residences.
Further claims came in an email that appeared to be a draft of a letter intended to be sent by Gates’s then-top adviser, Boris Nikolic, around the time of his resignation from the Microsoft billionaire’s charitable foundation.
Appearing to be written from Nikolic’s point of view, another message on the same morning in July 2013 offered his resignation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
He wrote: ‘I have been caught up in a severe marital dispute between Melinda and Bill.
‘In my role as his right hand man I have been asked and wrongly acquiesced into participating in things that have ranged from the morally inappropriate, to the ethically unsound and have been repeatedly asked to do thing [sic] that get near and potentially over the line into the illegal…
‘From helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trusts, with married women, to being asked to provide adderall fro [sic] bridge touramnts [sic], as I am a medial [sic] doctor, but have no presriptions [sic] writing ability.’
There is no indication that Nikolic himself knew about these messages.
Following the release, which contained lurid claims about Gates’s sex life, his spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false’
A spokesman for Gates told the Daily Mail: ‘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.’
Melinda and Gates were married from 1994 to 2021. She cited Gates’s affairs and friendship with Epstein as reasons for the divorce, but has not divulged further details.
Melinda reportedly hired lawyers to plan the split in 2019, after reports emerged about his repeated meetings with Epstein, contradicting the Microsoft founder’s earlier public denials.
She retained counsel after becoming concerned about her husband’s alleged business dealings with the pedophile financier, The Wall Street Journal reported.
