Bill Gates is said to have blamed himself for his break from soon-to-be ex-wife Melinda, as he discussed their divorce.
At the elite Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference last week, the Microsoft co-founder reportedly discussed his and Melinda’s divorce after 27 years of marriage. Gates gave a speech about climate change before allegedly disclosing his divorce.
Gates “fessed up to messing up” his marriage, according to one attendee, during a “off the record” Q&A session, according to The New York Post.
According to the source, “he basically pointed to the fact that it [the divorce] was his fault.”
The source continued, “He did seem a little emotional about it.” “I think he was on the edge of crying.”
When lamenting the end of his nearly three-decade marriage, Gates did not use the word “affair,” according to the publication.
Gates’ candor, according to another attendee, was “very moving.”
Melinda Gates, 56, met Bill at Microsoft in 1987, shortly after she joined the tech firm, and the pair married in 1994. The couple announced in May, 2021 that they are divorcing after a 27-year marriage.
The news comes two years after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie divorced, making him one of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
Gates is said to have arrived to the Sun Valley conference last week and dined with fellow billionaires Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday night.
The Idaho conference, dubbed “summer camp for billionaires” by some, attracts the top names in tech and media every year, and 2021 appeared to be no exception.
Apple’s Tim Cook, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft were also seen at this year’s event, in addition to Gates, Bezos, and Zuckerberg.