No sooner did I glowingly speak of Bill and Melinda Gates’ seemingly peaceful divorce did TMZ drop an extremely strange story about the lead-up to this week’s divorce announcement. Apparently, Bill and Melinda have known that they would divorce for some time now, and their lawyers have been working through all of the issues for months. That doesn’t surprise me. What does surprise me is that it seems like Bill did *something* and Melinda was so mad that she wanted to file for divorce in March, and at the same time, Melinda took their (now adult) kids to Hawaii without Bill.
The Bill and Melinda divorce has been a done deal for months, TMZ has learned, and they had a plan to announce it back in March … a plan that included renting a remote, private island where the entire family — with one BIG exception — could avoid the media once the announcement was made … sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ.
Our sources say Melinda Gates rented Calivigny Island in Grenada … yes, she rented the entire island for $132,000 a night. The plan was for Melinda and the kids, as well as their significant others, to come to the island — everyone except Bill. We’re told everyone in the family already knew Bill and Melinda were divorcing. There was a considerable amount of acrimony associated with the split and we’re told virtually everyone in the family took Melinda’s side. Another way of putting it … we’re told they were very angry at Bill, and that’s why he wasn’t invited.
The reason for going to the island … so no one from the media could reach them and ask about the split when it was announced during their stay. But, there was a problem … lawyers for both Bill and Melinda were trying to hash out a divorce settlement and there were still outstanding issues that couldn’t be resolved at the time of the trip. We’re told Melinda decided to go anyway … well, with everyone BUT Bill.
So here’s the takeaway. First, we’re told this was not a friendly split. We’re told Melinda and most of the family were furious at Bill for various things they claim he had done. Second … it’s clear this divorce has been a long time in the making. And, finally, it appears they have all but reached a property settlement given the lawyers have been working on it for months and Bill transferred nearly $2 billion in stock to Melinda on the very day she filed for divorce. These things are not done piecemeal … it would almost certainly have been part of a global settlement.
I miss the good old days when the worst thing we were talking about was the fact that Bill Gates has an annual “long weekend” vacation with an ex-girlfriend. Lord. Looks like Bill and Melinda are having a huge, dramatic split after all. And if sh-t is being leaked to TMZ already, then it’s probably going to get worse! I hope the scandal is more of Jeff Bezos variety, where there’s an adult side chick involved and a conspiracy involving someone named David Pecker.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.
Sounds more and more like it’s related to Epstein. I wonder if Bill was interviewed by FBI investigators and had to admit some nasty deeds.
My first thought as well.
Same. I do not think that it is going to be a good look for Bill when the story comes out.
Same! A revelation like that would definitely have me filing for divorce.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/melinda-gates-warned-bill-gates-about-jeffrey-epstein/?
Probably 100% correct!
I read that article last night and thought the same thing. If leaks are happening about something as serious as this – then the leak is on purpose. This isn’t just someone spreading rumors.
Unfortunately I am unable to read it as it’s behind a paywall .Are you able to give the outline of the story ?
Many Thanks
Yikes on trikes!
Can we finally stop with the Bill Gates is a “good guy” thing now? The Gate Foundation has done some great work, but they aren’t perfect and Bill is the founder not the foundation itself. Its looking more and more like Melinda is the driver there and he was along (to write the checks) for the ride.
@ Cat Friend – if you ever can’t read an article because of a paywall, just copy the link and go to printfriendly[dot]com. It works for me like 95% of the time.
I’m not defending Bill Gates AT ALL but he doesn’t seem like a sexual person to me. If he knew about and in any way enabled Epstein he’s culpable and Melinda is right to dump his sorry ass. But I really have a hard time picturing Gates as a sexual predator.
And what exactly does a sexual predator look like??? Hint: they can be anybody.
Sarah, I know that. And it’s not like I know anything about Bill Gates, but he’s always just seemed asexual to me. Maybe that’s being on the spectrum, and all the students I’ve worked with on the spectrum tend to be very gentle (some might have explosive emotions but not at all in a physically threatening way). Which is why I struggle associating Bill Gates with predatory behavior. It’s irrelevant, though. If he in anyway enabled Epstein, he’s as bad as a predator, even if he isn’t one personally (and again I have no way of knowing that he isn’t).
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/melinda-gates-warned-bill-about-epstein-per-the-daily-beast-2021-5?r=US&IR=T
This article sums up the DB one, with no paywall.
Thanks for the site recommendation Big Yikes!
Exactly. I read a quote (Daily Beast) wherein he said, ‘Oh I had absolutely no idea he wasn’t up to anything of the highest moral character,’ which tells you he ignored what Epstein was doing all the while they had two daughters in a vulnerable age group for the pedomonster.
Even that quote is a shrug, admitting and deflecting at once. When you have daughters.
No. Just no.
Wow, this is really bad. According to the NYT, Bill started this “friendship” with Epstein in 2011, AFTER Epstein had been accused of sex crimes. The meeting with Melissa was in 2013, we now learn, two years later.
The NYT story broke last year. I wonder if it was the last straw for Melinda, revelations like this:
“By the time Mr. Gates and Mr. Epstein first met, Mr. Epstein had served jail time for soliciting prostitution from a minor and was required to register as a sex offender.”
And this:
“Beginning in 2011, Mr. Gates met with Mr. Epstein on numerous occasions — including at least three times at Mr. Epstein’s palatial Manhattan townhouse, and at least once staying late into the night, according to interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship, as well as documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Employees of Mr. Gates’s foundation also paid multiple visits to Mr. Epstein’s mansion. And Mr. Epstein spoke with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and JPMorgan Chase about a proposed multibillion-dollar charitable fund — an arrangement that had the potential to generate enormous fees for Mr. Epstein.”
There’s an interview on Slate: https://slate.com/business/2021/05/bill-melinda-gates-divorce-foundation-billionaire-philanthropy.html that talks about how Melinda was the driving force behind the foundation.
I knew what was going on with Jeffrey Epstein. How does Bill Gates, with all his advisors, not know? I call BS.
BettyRose
He seems sexual to me. Who goes on a weeks long vacation w/an ex lover. Not saying that makes him guilty, but he’s definitely sexual and in an odd way. As in most social norms.
Also, they whole family went to a private
island in preparation for the divorce announcement. All immediately family members were their except Bill 🥴
Who continues a friendship w/someone accused of those charges? Odd.
I’ve been thinking this too, and prob related to him stepping down from MS board last year too…
My thoughts too.
I am very very late to these comments, but it doesn’t sound like Bill got caught up in Epstein’s girls drama like Prince Andrew and others. Almost all of those guys had skeevy reps beforehand. Many were rumored to like girls as close the 18 as possible beforehand. Gates has a very a-sexual reputation to like an absurd level, he’d rather read a sack full of books than party with ladies.
BUT He’s toxically focused on his work project goals to the point of near ruin several times in his life. That’s established history.
So I think he probably took Epstein money after Epstein was convicted and did so knowingly. And that’s where the shit hit the fan for his family, who have actual morals. Or he was courting Epstein money and saw something he should have reported but didn’t to get the check and is in some shit for that.
Still shitty stuff, but I don’t think this is doing down the Andrew or Trump pictured with underage girls thing.
Oh geez, this is really going to set whackanon aflame. I mean, they always walk around with their heads on fire, that’s why their brains don’t work, but Gates has always been a big target of theirs. I hope to hell she’s a very grown adult. There’s definitely a third party here.
UGHH the Qaloonies have gone on for years how Gates and Epstein are buddy buds. I’m never going to hear the end of it.
Plus, Gates is responsible for putting micro chips in the Covid vaccines, don’t forget! They must be having a grand old time on the Q anon forums now.
Well it takes a lot to decide to end a marriage after 27 years, even if you are super rich, so maybe there might be dirt. A lot of.
Not necessarily. My parents divorced after 27 years too. She was over it for years, but they were waiting for us to be older. I was the youngest of my siblings and I was 16 when this happened.
Sure, but they are two of the richest people in the world with no prenup that can easily just live separate lives and chalk it up to “busy schedules”. Something is definitely fishy here to move to a full on divorce.
With all due respect, the 1% are very different from you and I and your parents. They have a lot more options.
They are globally-known public figures. If they were living separate lives, it would be exposed by the tabloids. Better to end an unhappy marriage and move on with your lives.
Well of course the 1% are different. However, they might want to move on, meet someone else and remarry eventually. These things they can’t really do if they don’t divorce. In fact all that money surely makes it easier to… some people can’t afford to divorce, but in their case, they can split their fortune and still both be billionaires. I don’t see why they wouldn’t if they have had enough of their marriage.
+1
Hawaii or Grenada?
Grenada. Think they just made a geographical error 🙂
That was a really weird error. But does Hawaii even have private islands to be rented?
No, it sure doesn’t, although Lanai (off the coast of Maui) comes close. Most of it was owned by the Dole Company, now it’s owned by Larry Ellison. Hawaiians have a stronger voice now than at any time in the past, and ‘private islands for rent’ is out of the question.
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I’m sure there must have been a lot of cheating because that’s what men do once they think they “made it” but He really is the satan in disguise. People like to give special treatment for billionaires as if they’re new god or something, it’s immoral to hoard that much wealth for just a few people.
Gates was a billionaire long before he met Melinda. Serial cheating in general doesn’t seem like his MO. I think it has to be more than that. A long term mistress? Or financial shenanigans.
I’m thinking he may have impregnated someone
I’m with Ana Maria. If the whole Gates family flew to an island, ticked off at Bill, it’s bigger than just infidelity. There is probably another Gates or two, if rumors are correct. Plus the Gates family seems to be reacting JUST LIKE the Schwarzenegger family when confronted with Arnold’s oopsie. I don’t suspect Anna Winblad, their vacations just show that Bill was allowed behaviors not usually customary to husbands. If that is negotiated before marriage there is entitlement, a belief that he gets to do what he wants or feels he needs. I so want Mackenzie Scott to counsel Melinda with martinis and girl talk!
Well for example George W. Bush and Barack Obama were definitely not cheating on their wives when they’d “made it.” So I disagree with your generalization.
Billionaires ARE scum but at least the Gateses were in the process of trying to give a lot / most of their money to people in need.
Not sure about George W., or at least how you determine when he made it. Friends live in Midland, TX and were in their social circle back then; there were stories floating around he had a fling or two when he was still drinking.
Yeah, George W was a well known party boy. He didn’t cheat after gettin’ all “born again” and building a political career. That’s hardly the same thing as not being a cheater.
And GHWBush was reported by Newsweek to be cheating w/his aide, w/a pic. of her. But the rest of the media didn’t pick it up.
The Bushes have gotten a pass in many ways by the media. Never sure why.
Yeah, he was a total sleazeball when single. Slept with lots of women who worked at Microsoft. Stories about bringing women who were obviously escorts as dates to business functions where other men brought their wives.* The launch of the Gates Foundation came not long after the publication in a major computer trade publication implying that he had a date other than his wife at a launch party for a new Microsoft product. (Telling detail: Steve Ballmer, his #2, entering the party, seeing Bill and he woman, immediately turning and walking back out.)
I’m old enough to remember when he was single and heard the stories. It has never been easy to be a woman in the tech. Never met him, but have known multiple people who knew and worked with him. Note: his behavior was (is?) within the expected range for his level of success in the industry. He just wasn’t slick enough to hide it.
* no shame to the sex workers, ladies get your coin, but that can’t have been easy for them.
I know you’re not shaming sex workers, but I don’t even see a weirdness with bringing escorts as dates to functions when you’re too busy to have relationships. Sure, I’m getting that from Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, but bizarre romcoms aside, if I were a CEO and single, I could totally see bringing a rent a hunk to functions. (But I did once see a tech dude with an escort at a concert and she was clearly not having fun. Everyone was dancing and she was trying so hard in her 5 inch stilletos. . . )
I’m a feminist and I don’t “defend” sex workers. Don’t call them names but I for sure think it’s a sad choice and anyone who knows anything about abuse knows that many people who choose that life have been abused.
Holding sex work up as some great decision that you want to praise is just enabling people who’ve been abused in a lot of ways to continue to be abused.
Joan I struggle so much with everything you just said. From a feminist perspective, sex work, even if it were a freely chosen profession, promotes male privilege. Gives them sex options without having to actually deal with the humanity of a woman. But it’s so complicated and shaming sex workers plays into a virgin/whore dynamic that also benefits male privilege. So I err on the side of the safety and dignity of the workers. I want to see decriminalization and legal protections. (For adults. There’s no such thing as an underage sex worker. That’s 100% exploitation by any standard).
Second family. Maybe with the interpreter? Could be Epstein related. It has been my experience with heirs of rich folk, they have a high tolerance for bad behavior- unless it affects their money.
“ I miss the good old days when ” lol……yesterday!
I suspected it had to be something major for them to legally split because they could just easily live separate lives with the money and resources they’ve got without subjecting themselves to the columns of the tabloids and gossip rumours that a legal split is going to bring.
Exactly. It has to be acrimonious because a divorce in their situation is incredibly complex, expensive and will feed so many rumours whereas it’s easy to live separately and barely see one another. They have to freackin’ hate each other to choose divorce
@arpeggi
I generally agree with you but I think it’s more than hate. Its financial. It”s criminal. I think that it is beneficial to the wife because something really sinister is at the core and has been for a long time. Now that it’s getting closer and closer to GM’s court dates we’re going to see a lot more of this kind of stuff and more “suicides.” That is, if they don’t keep pushing those court dates out.
This is my thinking too. I also think that it has to involve their foundation in some way because the only reason Melinda would be looking for money is if she was planning to set up her own foundation. She was always the driving force behind their philanthropic efforts and the pledge to give away their fortune. I think that Bill did something that absolutely violated everything in which she believes. I think it has to be more than sleeping around or falling out of love.
The NYT story says the Gates Foundation hired a Miss Walker, a very very attractive friend of Jeffrey Epstein, in 2006. She continued to be very friendly with Epstein. I guess that’s how Bill met Epstein in 2011.
Just as icky: At that his meeting with Epstein, Bill was enthralled with a beautiful Swedish woman and her TEENAGE daughter and emailed staff about how wonderful that was. Gross, gross. And this is two years before Melinda met Epstein and said she was appalled, in 2013.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates.html
Epstein and ghislaine maxwell come to mind first and foremost. 😢
Isn’t it interesting that people thought the Gates split would be cleaner than the Bezos split. (They’re both scum.)
Waiting for the Zuckerberg split. Not that I know anything is amiss but the tech giants all seem to be tumbling at home and that one promises to be spectacular
His wife should have left when he stole all the land from the Hawaiians.
His wife should have left when he did nothing to stop the spread of the asian fueled hate on facebook (same with McConnell’s wife for his Trump nonsense) that would have targeted both of them and their children. My guess is the $$$ and political power is too good.
Ha ha ha ha about McConnell’s wife.
Elaine Chao is as bad as Mitch.
Maybe after the split we can drop Zuckerberg from the Zuckerberg-Chan General Hospital in SF. It’s nauseating. But she’s a doctor and I’m cool with it just being named for her.
Maybe it was something someone else did, or an accident happened, and he covered it up and never told Melinda? Even if happened years ago and she just found out now, it would be a huge betrayal of trust.
So much speculation. I will wait for the truth comes out before I start involving Gates divorce and Epstein. That’s a very serious allegation.
Bill’s meetings with Epstein are a known fact. There has been reporting on this for years.
More speculation; is Mr Gates worried about a mega lawsuit on the horizon and is protecting his wealth by transferring it to his soon to be ex wife?
I wonder if she found out he has a kid? That seems more likely to me than his association with Epstein causing the split.
Everyone around him even casually knows he’s on the spectrum and socially very withdrawn. I don’t see him spreading the love around. Possibly a long term mistress.
I’m not a Qanon fanatic, far from it, but I don’t trust Bill Gates. At all. We’ve seen the Lolita Express list with his name on it. Hello? And there is likely so much more not even connected to Epstein.
I doubt we’ll ever know the reason, right now it almost seems like media is taking random events /comments and creating stories stories to make their money because neither seems to have a chatty sibling like Bezos’ jump off and they have their s$&* is locked down. If they are divorcing why would she invite him along to her (very expensive) hideaway trip with their adult kids? Part of me thinks she (and I do agree she initiated) woke up one morning and decided she simply could no longer stand to look at his face and was done.
From the story above. “The plan was for Melinda and the kids, as well and their significant others, to come to the island — everyone except Bill.”
And I agree about the face thing!
I’m hearing rumors on the wire of Bill’s Chinese translator being the reason for divorce. Whatever the reason, it just proves that no good comes from the mindset that allows someone to hoard that much money.
My brother told me something once and I’ll never forget it but he told me that the reason it’s important to have values is because when you set your mind to it, it will become your reality. I think for the Bezos, Musks, and Gates of the world they never really had time for family, as shown to be completely true in Elon Musk’s case.
I saw a story this morning that there might have been something between Bill and his Chinese interpreter, so there’s that…
I know people who know Melinda (Dallas is a small town) and no one has a bad thing to say about her. She seems to be exactly who she seems to be and, like Mackenzie Bezos, just wants to give back to the world. I’m sorry if this divorce is causing her any emotional pain and I hope it gets done quickly and she can get back to doing good.
If things got to this point, I think the divorce won’t cause her any more emotional pain than being in the marriage did. At some point you ask yourself, “Do I want to die in this marriage?” And it all becomes clear. That’s how I knew. Toward the last 3 years of my marriage, whenever I heard about someone losing their spouse, I could not help but feel a tinge of envy.
I really wanted to think he was a good guy because of all the charity. But I guess it’s all her. I just it that republicans are right about him.
Now watch the qmagas run with this. I wonder what loony story they’ll choose: Melinda divorced him because he invented covid, or she discovered his nefarious plans to depopulate the planet, or she found his stash of marinated babies in a jar, ready to be grilled. This saga is going to be like a Stefon sketch on SNL.
She found his microchips he’s having put in the covid vaccine.
I can’t fathom spending 132k a night somewhere. I guess if you’re a billionaire multiple times over it’s chump change in a way. Crazy that they are spending that much on privacy yet the whole world now knows where they are.
There’s always more to the story, especially with big money and big personalities. These people have as much influence as governments and public policy institutes through their foundation. Wonder what the repercussions of that will be on the organization and what exactly will come out.
Please stop assuming Bill Gates is not a sexual predator because of his appearance and persona (the quiet, on the spectrum, and harmless nerd). Some predators purposely play that role to hide their true nature. We just don’t know.
I recently found out my coworker is a serial sexual assaulter and rapist. The man was in his late 60s, wore coke bottle glasses, had huge hearing aids, and looked like an asexual friendly grandpa. He used that kindly persona to lure young women into rooms and attack them. I will never assume anyone is not a predator ever again.
You know what I’m realizing as I get older? Break ups can happen anytime anywhere. First of all, men are sh*t. Second of all, there is always a straw that breaks the camel’s back.
I had read somewhere he was diagnosed with Aspergers. My partner has it. Its not easy.
Bill is a eugenics believer at heart and we know creepy Epstein was into it as well. I really have concerns when these billionaires want to go to “poor countries” and give out free this and free that. Like the pox blankets given to the Native Americans back then. And look what happened to those beautiful people.
This seems likely to get worse.