Bill Gates has addressed his controversial former relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein, admitting that it was ‘a huge mistake’ to associate with the convicted child sëx offender.
‘In retrospect, I was foolish to spend any time with him,’ the Microsoft co-founder told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.
‘I think I was quite stupid. I thought it would help me with global health philanthropy. In fact, it failed to do that. It was just a huge mistake.’
Gates further acknowledged that he had become wary of making new connections after Epstein’s death by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sëx trafficking and federal conspiracy.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Epstein had threatened to expose Gates’ alleged affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova in 2017 after Gates declined to join Epstein’s multibillion-dollar charitable fund with JPMorgan Chase. Epstein, who had known Antonova since 2013, had paid for her to enrol in a software coding school.
The billionaire philanthropist, who was married to Melinda Gates from 1994 to 2021, admitted that he had been in a relationship with Antonova for years.
In March 2022, Melinda, 60, claimed that Epstein played a role in the breakdown of her marriage to Bill.
She said during an appearance on CBS Mornings that she left the 27-year marriage ‘for many things,’ including her ex-husband’s relationship with Epstein.
‘I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made that clear to him,’ she said, recalling that she only met Epstein once, but ‘regretted it the second I walked in the door.’
Melinda further described Epstein as ‘abhorrent’ and ‘evil personified,’ adding that her heart breaks for the women affected by his actions.
Bill, in a separate interview with The Times of London, said that his divorce from Melinda was the ‘mistake’ he regrets most.
‘There are others but none that matter,’ he said. ‘The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years.’
Although their marriage ended, Bill and Melinda have maintained an amicable relationship and share three adult children: Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22.
Melinda has since moved on with entrepreneur Philip Vaughn, while Bill is now dating Paula Hurd.
