Melinda French Gates has spoken out about what it’s like to be a billionaire, saying her immense wealth comes with “great responsibility.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair, the ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said her financial situation sometimes felt “surreal.”
“The hardest part is when you go out there and see the needs of the people there,” French Gates, 60, told the publication. “You see how hard it is for them to make ends meet. A single mother whose mother gets sick, who was taking care of her four-month-old baby, that’s what’s hard.”
French Gates, whose net worth is estimated at $11.3 billion according to Forbes, has devoted more than 20 years to philanthropy since she and her ex-husband launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000.
“I wanted to be able to use all the tools I have,” she said. “Philanthropic funds, investment funds, and being able to talk about politics. The LLC gives me a lot of flexibility to do that.”
The mother of three told the outlet that some of her personal wealth goes to political campaigns.
In 2022, French Gates told CBS Mornings that his fellow billionaires should follow his lead and donate some of their wealth to causes they care about.
“If you’re lucky enough to be a billionaire, believe me, you can give away half of it and not change your life,” she said at the time. “We should have a society where if, for whatever reason, you have wealth in your hands, you put it back into society to change and help others flourish.”
In May, French Gates announced her departure from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world’s largest private charitable foundations, as she donated $1 billion over the next two years to support women’s and family organizations.
She revealed that she will be launching her own philanthropic initiative.
The billionaire do-gooders split in 2021 after 27 years of marriage, but had pledged to continue their philanthropic work together.
French Gates also received about $6 billion in stock in the early days of his divorce from Gates.
Their final divorce decree filed in a Seattle court did not contain any details about an agreement the two reached on how to divide their marital property.
“Under the terms of my agreement with Bill, upon leaving the foundation, I will have an additional $12.5 billion to devote to my work on behalf of women and families,” Melinda Gates wrote on social media in May.
The foundation is one of the most powerful and influential forces in global public health, having spent more than $75 billion since its inception to bring a business approach to the fight against poverty and disease.
Between 1994 and 2018, Bill and Melinda donated approximately $59.5 billion to the Seattle-based foundation, according to its website.
