By Jennifer Smith, Chief Reporter and Charlie Lankston For Dailymail.com
- Melinda Gates’ full interview with CBS Mornings host Gayle King aired on Thursday morning
- The 57-year-old slammed her ex for his controversial friendship with the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein
- Melinda said that she met Epstein ‘once’ and ‘regretted it’ immediately
- ‘He was abhorrent, evil personified. I had nightmares about it afterwards,’ she said of their meeting
- Bill continued to meet with the pedophile despite her protestations: ‘I made it very clear how I felt about him’
- Bill previously said it was a ‘huge mistake’ meeting with Epstein multiple times
- The pair were photographed together at Epstein’s home in Manhattan in 2011, after he was convicted of soliciting child prostitutes
- Melinda also lifted the lid on how she felt the trust in her marriage was broken by Bill’s affair with an employee
- He previously admitted having an affair with an unnamed woman who worked for Microsoft in 2000
- The couple were married for 27 years before announcing their split in May last year
- She revealed on Thursday that they were not ‘friends’ but are ‘friendly’ and said: ‘I wish him well’
Melinda Gates trashed her ex-husband Bill for his questionable friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and revealed that he continued to meet with him despite her having ‘nightmares’ about him.
In her first interview since her divorce from the billionaire last year, Melinda told CBS Mornings that she insisted on meeting Epstein back in 2011 because she wanted to see ‘who this man was’.
‘I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein. I made that clear to him. I also met Jeffrey Epstein exactly one time. I wanted to see who this man was and I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door.
‘He was abhorrent, evil personified. I had nightmares about it afterwards. That’s why my heart breaks for these young women. That’s how I felt, and I am an older woman. He was awful.’
She told host Gayle King that Bill had to answer the many times he met Epstein, and even suggested that it contributed to the divorce.
‘It was not one thing, it was many things [that led to the divorce]. Any of the questions remaining about what Bill’s relationship with him was… those are for Bill to answer. I made it very clear how I felt about him.’
Melinda revealed how;
- She cried ‘on the carpet’ at times while working through the divorce that they announced in May last year
- She had forgiven Bill for a 2000 affair but he had to answer to reports of multiple affairs
- The pair are ‘friendly’ now but are not ‘friends’: ‘I wish him well,’ she said
- She is ‘dipping her toe’ into dating again and finds it ‘interesting’
- Every billionaire should give away at least half of their wealth
- She does not blame herself for the divorce, saying ‘I did nothing wrong, I hold my head high’
- She has launched her own company now called Pivotal Ventures but will continue to work at The Gates Foundation
The interview was filmed at the offices of Melinda’s new company, Pivotal Ventures, in Seattle.
