Melinda French Gates Shares Why She ‘Had to’ End Relationship with Bill Gates, Says New Romance Is ‘Pretty Great’

The philanthropist and writer reflected on the end of her 27-year marriage to Bill Gates during an April 14 appearance on ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’

Melinda French Gates is reflecting on how she knew she “had to” end her marriage to Bill Gates.

The 60-year-old philanthropist and the 69-year-old billionaire announced that they were divorcing after 27 years together in May 2021.

During a Monday, April 14 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote her memoir, The Next Day, Melinda spoke candidly about the separation and what she learned from it. She also provided a brief update about her current love life.

She said that to have a “trusted relationship, which is what I wanted in marriage,” then “both partners have to be honest with one another.”

“And if you can’t, you can’t have intimacy and you can’t have trust. So in the end, I had to go,” Melinda concluded of her decision to end the union.

Melinda also confirmed that she was currently in a “pretty great” relationship. While she did not provide specifics on the show, earlier this month, the star told PEOPLE that she was dating and was “very, very happy.”

Melinda also offered insights into her divorce while promoting her book, and during an April 14 appearance on Good Morning America, she noted that it was a “painful” experience to live through. “I ended up learning some lessons and there was some growth in there, too,” she added.

The philanthropist also said that she hoped her candidness about her divorce in her memoir might be “helpful” to others going through similar experiences.

In the book, she recalled having nightmares about her family, including one about her falling down a cliff.

“As dramatic as it sounds,” she wrote. “I knew, in that moment, that I was going to have to make a decision—and that I was going to have to make it by myself.”

Meanwhile, Bill has also spoken publicly about the end of their marriage telling the U.K. Times in January 2025, that the divorce was “tough” and “the mistake I most regret.”

He also listed the split as one of the biggest failures in his life. While he admitted to making other mistakes over the years, he said the separation would belong “at the top of the list.”

While on the Today show the following month, Gates clarified that it wasn’t the marriage itself that he regretted.

“Despite the fact that the divorce wasn’t great, having those three kids, the work we were able to do together — even if I knew that it [wouldn’t] last forever, I would still do it again,” he said.

When asked about his comments during a conversation with Elle, Melinda said that she hoped people saw that she was “thriving on the other side of a divorce.”