Bill Gates has lifted the lid on mistakes he has made in the past and which one he regrets the most.
The tech mogul shared that one particular mistake made him miserable for ‘at least two years’.
The Microsoft co-founder and billionaire spoke to The Times, where he revealed that one thing in life he regrets the most.
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This was in fact, his divorce from his wife, which he described as ‘tough’. Gates split from Melinda French Gates in May 2021 after being married for 27 years.
In a joint statement they posted to social media at the time, the former couple 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 over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives.”
Now, Gates has described it as ‘the mistake I most regret’.
Speaking to The Times, Gates said: “You would have to put that at the top of the list. There are others but none that matter. The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years.”
He went on to say: “There is a certain wonderfulness to spending your entire adult life with one person because of the memories and depth of things you have done and having kids together.
“When Melinda and I met, I was fairly successful but not ridiculously successful — that came during the time that we were together. So, she saw me through a lot.”
The pair met back in 1987 when French became a product manager at Microsoft and were seated next to one another at a work dinner.
Seven years later, they tied the knot in Hawaii.
Gates said: “Melinda and I still see each other — we have three kids and two grandchildren so there are family events. The kids are doing well. They have good values.”
The Wall Street Journal claimed that a spokesperson for Gates had acknowledged that he’d had an affair almost 20 years before the split and that the couple had parted ways ‘amicably’.
In 2022, French spoke to Gayle King on CBS Mornings where she was asked about the alleged infidelity.
In response, she said: “Well, I certainly believe in forgiveness, so I thought we had worked through some of that. It wasn’t one moment or one specific thing that happened. There just came a point in time where there was enough there that I realized it just wasn’t healthy, and I couldn’t trust what we had.”