Melinda French Gates has entered a new phase of life, and she describes it as “beautiful.” Five years after her painful, public divorce from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and two years after stepping down from the Gates Foundation, she is now fully focused on Pivotal, the philanthropic organization she founded in 2015 to promote women’s empowerment. Her three children have flown the coop, she goes by “Nonna” to her two granddaughters, and as an empty nester, she finds herself in the strange position of having time on her hands.
She now frequents her local independent bookshop, chatting with staff about what to read next, and after finishing work at 5 p.m., often texts a friend for a walk through new Seattle neighborhoods, decaf coffees in hand. She no longer runs daily but insists on a morning stroll to enjoy the natural beauty of her adoptive home town, with Lake Washington glittering in late-spring light. This morning, she saw a blue heron, she says, sounding almost boastful. But the interview also touches on darker moments, including her meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, whom she always saw for who he really was - despite his meetings with her then-husband Bill Gates.