Melinda French Gates: building a legacy beyond marriage to tech billionaire Bill Gates

Here is what you need to know about the inspirational figure and the experiences that have shaped her remarkable journey.

Early life and education

Born Melinda Ann French on August 15, 1964, in Dallas, Texas, she is the second of four children.

Her father, Raymond Joseph French Jr., an aerospace engineer who contributed to the Apollo mission, and her mother, Elaine Agnes Amerland, a homemaker, instilled the importance of education in their children, the South China Morning Post wrote about her.

Her father nurtured her early interest in science and technology, even encouraging her to learn coding, she recalled in a post on X.

When she was around 15 her father bought an Apple II, one of the first computers sold to consumers.

She learned programming and convinced her parents to set it up in her bedroom so she could play computer games.

Melinda attended Ursuline Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in Dallas, where her passion for technology grew. She got a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s in business from Duke University.

After graduation, she worked as a marketing manager at Microsoft, according to The Independent, leaving the company before the birth of their first child in 1996.

Meeting Bill Gates and marriage

Melinda met Bill in 1987, shortly after starting at Microsoft. At a work dinner in New York, Bill approached her in a parking lot and asked her on a date. She initially declined, citing his lack of spontaneity, as reported by celebrity news outlet People.

Bill persisted, calling her an hour later. "He said, 'Is this spontaneous enough for you?' " she recalled. "And I said, 'Okay, I guess that's pretty spontaneous. I guess we can try.' "

Though she admitted that being in a relationship with the company’s founder worried her, she later married Bill in 1994 in Hawaii.

The couple had three children together, Jennifer (29), Rory (25) and Phoebe (22).

Divorce and moving forward

In 2021 Bill and Melinda announced their divorce, sparking speculation about Bill’s infidelity, which he later confirmed.

Melinda opened up about the separation in a 2022 interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings: "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 realised it just wasn’t healthy, and I couldn’t trust what we had."

When asked about the tech mogul’s multiple alleged affairs, Melinda said, "Those are questions Bill needs to answer."

She also revealed that the Microsoft founder’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who committed suicide in 2019, played a significant role in her decision to divorce.

"I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein," she said, adding that she had "made that clear to him."

Parenting with purpose

Despite their immense wealth, the billionaire couple emphasized financial discipline when raising their children.

Reflecting on her own upbringing, she shared in a 2024 New York Times interview: "I think it was much more of an upbringing like I grew up in.

"A very middle-class household where money did dictate whether I got an extra pair of shoes that year or not. We absolutely did not just buy them things."

Although co-parenting with Bill has been difficult since their divorce, Melinda has said her "main concern was trying to protect my kids through it," as she explained in an interview with Fortune magazine.

A new chapter: love and legacy

Melinda is reportedly dating Philip Vaughn, a former Microsoft employee and tech entrepreneur. Vaughn worked at Microsoft from 1999 to 2008, starting as a senior consultant and later becoming a group program manager.

The couple was first photographed together In October 2024 in New York City, holding hands as they stepped off a helicopter.

On April 13, they were spotted again holding hands on their way to a Broadway show in Manhattan, according to Page Six.

Melinda later confirmed in an interview with The Late Show that she is in a "pretty great" relationship and is "very, very happy."

Wealth and philanthropy

With a net worth of $30.7 billion as of May 23, Melinda is one of the world’s wealthiest women, according to Forbes. But it’s how she uses her wealth that defines her legacy.

In 2000, she co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has poured nearly $60 billion into fighting disease and poverty worldwide. In May 2024, she stepped down from the foundation following her divorce.

In 2015, Melinda launched Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company focused on advancing women’s rights and accelerating progress toward gender equality. She pledged $1 billion in 2019 and another $1 billion in 2024 to support women’s rights and leadership initiatives.

"We all have power. But there are barriers in society that often keep women from using our full power," Melinda said in an interview with Elle in March. "Our job is to help remove those barriers."