Melinda French Gates is making it clear she wants no part of the latest storm surrounding her ex-husband. During a Tuesday appearance on NPR’s “Wild Card” podcast, she said society is heading for a “reckoning” and stressed that whatever questions remain about the Jeffrey Epstein files are for Bill Gates to answer — not her. Translation: this is his problem now, and she’s done carrying it.
Her comments came after the Department of Justice released more than three million investigative records related to Epstein, including personal emails. Some of those emails allege that Bill Gates had additional affairs and sought medication to treat a sexually transmitted infection, and that he wanted to give that medication to his wife at the time without her knowing. A spokesperson for Gates rejected the claims outright, calling them “absolutely absurd and completely false” and saying the documents only show Epstein’s frustration at not having an ongoing relationship with Gates and his attempts to entrap and defame him.
French Gates said the situation reflects a broader moral moment for the country. She described it as a “reckoning,” saying no girl should ever be put in the position Epstein’s victims were put in. She recalled being the same age as the girls and seeing her own daughters at those ages, calling it “beyond heartbreaking.” She also said that revisiting those details brings back memories of painful times in her marriage.
Still, she emphasized that she has moved on. She said she intentionally pushed those experiences away and is now in an “unexpected, beautiful place” in her life. Any unanswered questions, she added, belong to “those people” and to her ex-husband. “They need the answer to those things, not me,” she said, adding that she is happy to be “away from all the muck.” And honestly, who wouldn’t want to be?
When asked what emotion dominates when she reads about Epstein and those connected to him, she said it is sadness — “unbelievable sadness.” She said she looks at the young girls involved and wonders how such things could have happened to them. She also said she left her marriage and later felt she needed to leave the foundation as well, calling the whole situation simply “sad.”
French Gates concluded by saying she hopes there will be justice for the women who were victimized, noting that they are now standing up publicly about what they endured. She said what they went through is unimaginable, but she has been able to move forward with her life.
And that may be the one bright note here: while the past is being dragged into the light, those who walked away from it are choosing to live forward — and hoping accountability finally follows.
