Melinda French Gates has shed new light on her decision to end her 27-year marriage to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, revealing that a lack of honesty and intimacy ultimately pushed her to walk away.
In a candid interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday, April 14, 2025, Melinda explained that trust was at the core of what she desired in a marriage, and once that trust was broken, the relationship couldn’t survive.
“I learned that to have a trusted relationship, which is what I wanted in marriage, both partners have to be honest with each other. If you can’t be honest, you can’t have intimacy or trust. And so in the end, I had to go,” she said.
Now 60, Melinda is promoting her new memoir, The Next Day, where she reflects on her journey, including the high-profile divorce in 2021. While she refrained from going into specifics during the interview, she has previously mentioned that Bill Gates’ controversial ties with Jeffrey Epstein contributed to her decision.
Melinda also revealed she has found love again and is currently engaged to tech investor Philip Vaughn. “I am dating now, and I’m engaged. It’s been pretty great,” she said with a smile.
Asked why she chose to write about her marriage in the memoir, Melinda said it would have been dishonest to leave that chapter out: “It happened to me, and unfortunately, it happens to a lot of families.”
The Next Day offers a deeper look into the personal struggles and strength it took for Melinda Gates to move on, rebuild, and find happiness again.
