this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates has said her ex-husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, being named in new files relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein dredged up "painful times in my marriage".

She told an NPR podcast she feels "unbelievable sadness" about the Epstein allegations and that the people named in the records, including her former husband, need to answer to it.

"I am so happy to be away from all the muck," she said. The couple divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

Records released by the US justice department include an allegation by Epstein that Bill Gates caught a sexually transmitted disease. He has called the claim "absolutely absurd".

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[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 22 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

So she is very much suggesting here that he did go to pedo island and that he did have sex there...

Not that it surprises me, but... I've hated Microsoft since it's founding, it's been one evil fucking company, but Bill Gates going down as a pedophile isn't on my 2026 bingo card.

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 2 points 5 minutes ago

Or she was just talking in general terms that he has some … issues.

I would hate to find out that she knew he was a pedo.

[–] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 20 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Yes, but he donated a fraction of his fortune to a set of charities chosen to maximize their PR value! That totally absolves him!

[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 52 points 9 hours ago (15 children)

Holy shit some of these comments are fucking gross and victim-blamey in here. Why the fuck is Melinda the target here any differently than the victims themselves who didn't speak up until later?

I think we all know why none did, just as none of you would in all reality: fear, and who would actually listen without proof?

See the #MeToo movement, how that backfired for so many women, let alone trying to take down one of the richest people of all time. Also for those who paid attention, Melinda had long heavily hinted at this shit.

[–] pachrist@lemmy.world 16 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

I think most people's issue is that all she's ever done is hint, and now that there is less reason than ever to hint, that's all she continues to do.

This case needs someone to step up, corroborate the documents, and speak out so some of these things can be unredacted. She, as a billionaire, is best equipped, but chose to keep hinting on a podcast tour instead, and in the current climate, that makes people suspicious.

[–] giantripdrop@piefed.social 18 points 6 hours ago

I am just speculating here, like everyone else is, but she is probably just hinting because she doesn't know shit.

"My ex-husband, billionaire tech mogul Bill Gates, used to hang out with Jeff Epstein. Bill would occasionally meet up with him" is the extent should could say and prove. The rest is hearsay.

[–] beejboytyson@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

That's a bad argument, lots of people end up dead

[–] OctopusNemeses@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

It's why nothing will ever change. People don't care more than getting some potshots. It's why the population is so easy to distract.

[–] BremboTheFourth@piefed.ca 0 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

She is not a victim. I wouldn't care about her at all outside of "tax her so she's not a billionaire," except this publicity does nothing for anyone but her. Chances are she's paying big bucks to do these interviews. I mean it's the same move her ex has pulled the last 20 years!

Maybe she was ignorant and had no access to proof. Or maybe she's into the same shit and wants a squeaky clean reputation to help avoid consequences. Either way, these types of articles shouldn't be trusted, and they certainly shouldn't be on the front page.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 5 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Yup. If she would have went to the press without evidence, she would not have been believed. Still today people here are very quick to call someone a conspiracy theorist, including probably most of the people in this thread. They would have been attacking her. Not a single doubt in my mind about that.

So at the same time as people say someone should speak up, they keep attacking people who does, unless their sources are accepted as evidence by official media sources.

I dont blame her for being quiet, not at all.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 1 points 13 minutes ago

Not just not believed, but she could have easily been hit with a libel/slander suit if there wasn't any evidence.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 hours ago

Didn't that end up with that movie guy jailed for near life?

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[–] duelistsage@sh.itjust.works 40 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Oh look, another rich asshole who knew what was happening but didn't tell us.

Fuck these people and fuck their families. We should be taking their wealth by force.

[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 20 points 10 hours ago

Billionaire philanthropist has the same ring as underaged women

[–] MagnificentSteiner@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 hours ago

We should be taking their wealth back by force

FTFY ;)

[–] BremboTheFourth@piefed.ca 53 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Forget Melinda Gates. I was subjected to 2 minutes of her garbage NPR interview yesterday before I was able to skip it; it's fucking crazy that this woman is being allowed to do a goddamn press tour about this, like she's the main character. Oh, are you sad that Bill was a total piece of shit and you did nothing? Go be sad on your own time, on the miniscule chance you're somehow not a total psycho you can go find a therapist, I'm sure you can afford one. Stop hogging media time to wash your own bullshit image. I wonder how much she donated to get them to have her on.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 1 points 23 minutes ago

Also, even ignoring the Epstein stuff, she stuck with Gates while he was doing a lot of really unethical things at Microsoft. She either liked him, or liked his billions enough to stick with him for a long time. She doesn't get a pass because she started spending the billions she got from him in the divorce for charity. Where did those billions come from? She was standing by his side as he raked them in by illegally using his monopoly to crush competitors to Microsoft and threaten Linux / Linux users with patent infringement, lawsuits, etc.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 19 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I'm sure she can wipe away her tears with some bars of gold

[–] BremboTheFourth@piefed.ca 14 points 10 hours ago

Literally, get a bar of gold, melt it down, press it into gold foil tissues, carve another gold bar into a tissue box, and wipe her tears. She could spend $100,000 on doing that every day for the next 800 years before running out of money.

Like if she had something genuine to add, that'd be something. You know, corroborate a victim's story, make a call to action, "he should be in prison," even "here's something I'm doing to help" would still be reputation laundering but it would be something. She literally just went on to say (probably lie) that she didn't know about it and it makes her so sad. Fucking billionaires, fuck.

[–] user28282912@piefed.social 3 points 6 hours ago
[–] SlacksMcTavish@lemmy.ml 61 points 13 hours ago (4 children)

Ok but if she knew about it and it's why the divorce why didn't she say shit, unless I'm missing something?

[–] ViatorOmnium@piefed.social 77 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Their divorce process started when their youngest daughter turned 18, so it might be the usual "sticking to a toxic wasteland of a marriage for the children" delusion.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 19 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)
[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 55 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (8 children)

She may have had to sign an NDA for the divorce to go through.

Dunno why y'all are blaming her for shit. She wasn't the one involved with Epstein.

[–] notwhoyouthink@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 hours ago

Agreed - and who knows how much she actually knew, I highly doubt she knew everything and just the cherry picked version her ex gave her.

Leaving a marriage, especially an abusive (speculation here) one, and especially when you’re raising children, and (yes one more) especially to someone as rich as he is no easy, simple, or fast task.

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 32 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

For a lot of (if not most) people, knowing about the heinous shit happening and doing nothing about it (at minimum trying to go public) is an issue nearly as bad as actually participating.

[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 23 points 12 hours ago (4 children)

And maybe people have forgotten how to use their critical thinking skills first before jumping on the blame bandwagon.

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[–] SlacksMcTavish@lemmy.ml 16 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

Not blaming,and an NDA to cover illegal shit is enforceable?

I'm not from USA, I don't know how NDAs work there?

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 18 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (3 children)

No an NDA can't cover withholding information about a crime. Asking someone to not divulge information under an NDA pertaining to a crime, is in itself a crime/an unenforceable nda

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[–] duelistsage@sh.itjust.works 6 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (7 children)

Keep in mind, OP literally pulled the "NDA" thing out of his ass.

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[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 13 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

I believe that she divorced him after the Epstein thing first blew up and it was because of that.

[–] rayyy@piefed.social 2 points 3 hours ago

Well, that and maybe the STD Bill gave her .

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[–] 20cello@lemmy.world 17 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Can't be a philanthropist and a billionaire at the same time, fucking media know this

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[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 12 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Dude gave her an std and she still won't tell the world everything she knows?! The fuck.

[–] RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 5 hours ago

Probably because if she admits to how much she knew, we'd know she could have done something to stop it.

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