American billionaire Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates have announced that they were ending their 27 years of marriage since they did not believe both of them could grow as a couple in their ‘next phase’ of life.
In an extraordinary statement, 65-year-old Bill Gates and 56-year-old Melinda Gates said, “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives.”
Their statement continued, “We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 3, 2021
Both Bill Gates and Melinda shared the identical statement from their respective Twitter handles.
— Melinda French Gates (@melindagates) May 3, 2021
Curiously, both of them disabled the comments section on their social media posts primarily to stop netizens to comment on their decision.
Both Bill Gates and Melinda French began dating each other after the latter joined Microsoft in 187. They got married in 1994 and have three children. They went on to become one of the world’s richest couples as they shifted their attention to philanthropy. In 2000, they launched Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation employs 1,600 staff and has issued grants worth $54.8 billion across the world since its inception.
Their daughter Jennifer Katharine Gates had publicly announced in 2020 that she was dating Egyptian millionaire Nayel Nassar and would like to spend the rest of her life with him.