Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Married to a £100bn geek god ..so where did it all go wrong?
funds firms that will expand women’s influence in the US by 2030. It marked the greatest philanthropic effort for Mackenzie and was her first cash giveaway since her divorce.
Melinda, 56, has used her own investment office, Pivotal Ventures, to give money to causes such as women’s economic empowerment.
The Gates’ eldest child Jennifer, 25, hinted at the break-up on Instagram when she wrote that the family has been going through a “challenging stretch of time”.
She added: “I’m still learning how to best support my own process and emotions as well as my family members at this time and am grateful for the space to do so.”
Melinda filed the divorce petition citing their relationship had “irretrievably broken”. Despite no prenup, it is expected, like the Bezos’s divorce, the split will be amicable.
The Gates have signed a separation contract indicating an agreement is in place long before April 2022, the date Melinda has asked for her divorce to be heard in court. Melinda, who also has Rory, 21, and Phoebe, 18, with Bill, is not asking for any spousal support.
The Gates family live in Washington which is a “community property state” so all assets acquired by either party during marriage are considered communal and typically split equally during divorce in the absence of a prenup.
If the former couple split the fortune equally, Melinda would be worth £47bn, more than Mackenzie’s £43bn.
Bill has hired his 97-year-old billionaire lawyer friend, Charlie T Munger to act for him.
Munger is not a family lawyer but has expertise in business, philanthropy and real estate law.
While together, the Gates established the world’s largest charitable foundation, the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, which has contributed more than £36bn to causes including eradicating polio and malaria.
It has also been a significant investor in coronavirus treatments.
In a statement posted to their Twitter accounts on Monday, the pair said their work with the foundation would continue, but their marriage will not, adding: “We no longer feel we are able to grow as a couple in this next phase of our lives.”
The two have faced relationship struggles in recent years, with Bill stepping down from the boards of Microsoft and multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, in part to spend more time with his family.
Two years ago, Melinda gave a rare interview in which she revealed how he had struggled to balance work with family. She said: “We’ve just gotten to a point in life where Bill and I can both laugh about more things.
“And, believe me, I can remember some days that were so incredibly hard in our marriage where you thought, ‘Can I do this?’” Melinda quit work after giving birth to the couple’s first child – a decision she says horrified Bill, who co-founded computer giant Microsoft in 1975.
While looking after her first newborn, she said she felt incredibly “alone” as her husband was spending so much of his time working.
Melinda said she was left to take on most the parenting duties by herself. She admitted she had questioned if he was invested in fatherhood.
It wasn’t until they came together again professionally in 2000 to set up the non-profit Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation she began working again.
In her memoir, Melinda wrote about her private struggles as the wife of a public icon and stay-at-home mum with three kids.
I remember some days were so incredibly hard in our marriage MELINDA GATES IN A RARE INTERVIEW