'Had to leave my marriage', Melinda Gates says in interview after Epstein Files claim Bill Gates got STD

Bill and Melinda Gates

• Melinda Gates says Epstein files brought back painful marriage memories
• She hopes justice for Epstein's victims and accountability for those named
• Bill Gates denies all allegations, calling claims "absurd and completely false"

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Melinda Gates has responded publicly to recent revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein files, saying the details have resurfaced painful memories from her marriage to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and may have contributed to their divorce after 27 years.

Speaking during a podcast interview with NPR, Melinda Gates said the renewed scrutiny of Bill Gates’s alleged association with the late sex offender had been deeply distressing for her. “For me, it's personally hard whenever those details come up, right? Because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage,” she said.

She added that Bill Gates and others named in the Epstein-related documents must be held accountable for their alleged actions. “They need to answer to those things, not me,” the 61-year-old said.

Melinda Gates also described feeling overwhelming sadness following the latest disclosures. “Sad. Just unbelievable sadness. Unbelievable sadness...It's just sadness. I left my marriage. I had to leave my marriage. I wanted to leave my marriage. I felt I needed to eventually leave the foundation. So it's just sad. That's the truth,” she said during the interview.

She said she had been able to move forward with her life and expressed hope that the women, who were minors at the time of Epstein’s crimes, would receive justice.

Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk shared a clip from Melinda Gates’s interview on X, posting it with the caption “wow”.

The comments follow the release of a new batch of documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein by the US Justice Department. The files include claims by the late financier that Bill Gates sought antibiotics in 2013 to treat a sexually transmitted disease allegedly contracted through “sex with Russian girls”.

“During the past few weeks I have been caught up in a severe marital dispute between Melinda and Bill,” Epstein wrote in Nikolic’s voice in an email dated July 18, 2013.

The email continued, “…From helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with the consequences of sex with Russian girls, to facilitating [sic] his illicit trysts with married women, to being asked to provide adderall [for] bridge [tournaments]. I feel I owe it to my friends and future [sic] colleagues to admit a moral failure, to ask forgiveness and to move on with my life.”

In a separate draft email addressed to Bill Gates, Epstein, writing as Nikolac, accused the billionaire of attempting to conceal his actions and of planning to secretly medicate his then-wife.

“[You] implore me to please delete the emails regarding your std [sic], your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda, and the description of your penis,” the draft email said. “I am concerned that if Melinda decides as you said to file for a public divorce, the damage done to the pledge program alone would result in billions of dollars of money no longer being used for social good as I'm [sic] sure that some wives and husbands would feel free to retreat from their commitments.”

Bill Gates has denied all allegations. A spokesperson said the claims were “absolutely absurd and completely false”. “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,” NPR and the Daily Mail reported.

Bill Gates has previously stated that his interactions with Epstein were limited to discussions around philanthropy. However, past reporting by The Wall Street Journal said Epstein had threatened to expose an alleged affair between Gates and Russian bridge player Mila Antonova in 2017, allegedly after Gates declined to join a charitable fund started by Epstein with JP Morgan Chase.

According to the latest release by the Justice Department, at least seven draft emails written between July 17 and 18, 2013, appear in the newly disclosed trove of Epstein communications.