Bill Gates' ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, said she felt 'unbelievable sadness' when the Microsoft founder was mentioned in the latest batch of Epstein files.
The three million documents shared by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) last week included an allegation that the billionaire caught a sexually transmitted disease.
An email Epstein was said to have written to himself read: "To add insult to the injury you then subsequently with tears in your eyes, implore me to please delete the emails regarding your STD, your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda, and the description of your penis."
A spokesperson for Gates said to LADbible that the claim is 'absolutely absurd and completely false', while Bill himself has expressed 'regret' for socialising with Epstein.
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When talking about the latest file release, Melinda - who divorced Gates in 2021 - told NPR’s Wild Card podcast: "I think we're having a reckoning as a society, right?
"No girl, no girl should ever be put in the situation that they were put in by Epstein and whatever was going on with all of the various people around him.
"So for me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up, right, because [it] brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage. But I have moved on from that."
She went on to say that 'whatever questions remain there of what I don’t — can’t even begin to know all of it — those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband'.
"They need to answer to those things, not me," Melinda added. "I am so happy to be away from all the muck that was there."
Adding that she hopes 'there's some justice for those now-women', she said: "I'm able to take my own sadness and look at those young girls and say, 'my God, how did that happen to those girls'? At least for me, I've been able to move on in life."
When addressing whether she'd 'forgiven' Bill, she said she's 'gonna keep that one to myself', but added that it's a 'work in progress', and 'I think I’m getting there'.
In an interview with 9News this week, Gates admitted that he met Epstein in 2011 and had several dinners together over three years, but never visited his island or had relations with women.
"Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent. The email is false," he said.
"I don't know what his thinking was there. Was he trying to attack me in some way? Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologise that I did that."
On their relationship, Gates explained: "The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. In retrospect, that was a dead end," he said.
"I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regretted ever knowing him.
"The more that comes out, the more clear it will be that, although the time was a mistake, it has nothing to do with that kind of behaviour."
Topics: Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Gates, US News
Anish Vij