Melinda French Gates comments on Bill Gates’ inclusion in Epstein files

Melinda French Gates said her ex-husband, Bill Gates, needs to answer to the allegations made about him and his connection to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in the latest trove of documents related to Epstein released last week.

In an NPR interview, French Gates this week commented for the first time on the mentions of her ex-husband in the Department of Justice’s release of 3 million pages of Epstein files.

“No girl should ever be put in the situation that they were put in by Epstein and whatever was going on with all of the various people around him. No girl,” French Gates said on NPR’s “Wild Card” podcast. “I mean, it’s just — it’s beyond heartbreaking, right? I remember being those ages those girls were. I remember my daughters being those ages, right?”

Epstein was charged in 2019 with sex trafficking of minors and died in a federal jail later that year. Reporting and document releases have since shown his connections with wealthy and powerful people, including Gates, President Donald Trump and former Prince Andrew.

In 2013, emails from Epstein’s account to himself, seemingly written from the point of view of a Gates employee, he wrote that Gates had extramarital affairs and contracted sexually transmitted diseases from “Russian girls.” It’s unclear if the messages were ever sent or who, if anyone, Epstein was writing the messages for.

In a statement last week, a Gates spokesperson denied the claims, calling them “absolutely absurd and completely false.” Gates previously said he regrets the time he spent with Epstein. Representatives for Gates did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment about French Gates’ interview.

“The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame,” a Gates spokesperson said in a statement.

Emails to others detail Epstein’s alleged visits with Gates in the Seattle area, including a 2011 message in which Epstein wrote he spent the day with Gates. In that email, sent to British politician Peter Mandelson, Epstein wrote he was “having monstrous fun.”

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates finalized their divorce in 2021. French Gates said in her NPR interview that reading the details brought back painful memories of her own marriage.

“But I have moved on from that,” she said. “So whatever questions remain there of what I don’t — I can’t even begin to know all of it, those question are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me.”

Editor’s note: The Gates Foundation is a funder of The Seattle Times’ Education Lab.