Melinda Gates is opening up about the unfortunate downside of mixing business with pleasure!
While speaking to Fortune on Monday, Melinda got candid about how emotional it was to divorce her husband of 27 years, Bill Gates. And it wasn’t exactly difficult for the reason you might think! She started by expressing:
“The odd thing about COVID is that it gave me the privacy to do what I needed to do. It’s unbelievably painful, in innumerable ways, but I had the privacy to get through it.”
While much of the world didn’t know what was going on until the former couple announced their separation in May 2021, Melinda did — and she had the unique challenge of having to face her ex amid the split every single day at work and pretend nothing was wrong. Oof!
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She explained:
“I also kept working with the person I was moving away from, and I need to show up and be my best self every single day. So even though I might be crying at 9 a.m. and then have to be on a videoconference at 10 a.m. with the person I’m leaving, I have to show up and be my best.”
Such a challenge! Thankfully, it taught her an empowering lesson:
“And I learned as a leader that I could do it.”
She also added that protecting her kids, Jennifer, 26, Rory, 23, and Phoebe, 20, was her “main concern” throughout the split. While she still won’t reveal exactly why she decided to call things off with the marriage (aside from hinting she didn’t like Bill’s relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein), she teased:
“I had some reasons I just couldn’t stay in that marriage anymore.”
Some things aren’t meant to last forever. Good for her for getting through the tough time and managing to still work with her ex-husband! Not an easy thing to do! Reactions? Let us know (below)!
[Image via Daniel Deme/WENN]
The post Divorcing Bill Gates Was 'Unbelievably Painful' For Melinda -- But Not For The Reasons You'd Think! appeared first on Perez Hilton.