Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates are again reckoning with the Microsoft co-founder’s past ties to Jeffrey Epstein, with Gates testifying this week to Congress about their past interactions and his ex-wife newly opening up about her “visceral reaction” to the late convicted sex offender.
In an interview with the Guardian published Saturday, Melinda French Gates, a philanthropist who divorced Gates in 2021, said she had nightmares after once meeting Epstein and grew so upset talking to the reporter about her impressions of the man that she almost ended the interview.
“Have you ever in your life been around somebody that you just know is evil?” French Gates reflected to the Guardian about her initial impressions of Epstein. She told the interviewer at the time that her heart was “racing,” according to the report.
“We need to listen to our feelings about people,” she added to the Guardian. “I’m done. I can’t do any more questions.”
French Gates, who called Epstein an “abhorrent human being, a horrid man” and at one point in the interview conceded “this is a hard topic for me,” told the interviewer she was having a “visceral reaction” to the questions she was being asked, according to the Guardian’s report.
Calling for more transparency to bring justice for all of Epstein’s victims, she emphasized that “the justice system didn’t do its job. It did not do its job. Full stop.”
Just days before the published interview, her ex-husband was on Capitol Hill testifying for hours behind closed doors to the House Oversight Committee after the release of Epstein files earlier this year raised questions about his ties to the late convicted sex offender. Those documents revealed a series of graphic, unverified allegations, as well as a degree of philanthropic coordination between Gates and Epstein that was more detailed than previously known.
The interview was one of the most high-profile before the committee so far and came after French Gates previously suggested any questions related to Epstein were for her ex-husband and others to answer.
Gates was introduced to Epstein in 2011 and testified that the late convicted sex offender promised he could raise billions of dollars for global health. He told lawmakers that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and that Epstein attempted to use information about his personal life — including that he had been unfaithful in his marriage — to pressure him to re-engage with him after their contact had ended, as CNN reported.
“I learned Epstein had become aware of sensitive information about my personal life, including the fact that I had been unfaithful in my marriage. These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family,” Gates testified Wednesday, according to his prepared remarks.
Gates characterized his interactions with Epstein as “limited,” and testified that they ended altogether in December 2014.
Still, meeting Epstein, he told lawmakers, marked a “grave error in judgement” on his part.
“As the public can now see, based on what has been released in the files, Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities — in addition to many lies that he layered on top — to pressure me to re-engage with him. He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda. I should never have met with Epstein in the first place,” Gates said, according to his prepared remarks.
