Bill Gates Reflects on 'Great Marriage' to Melinda Despite Divorce: 'I'm Also Grieving'

Despite his longtime marriage being over, Bill Gates wouldn't go back and choose a different mate. 

In a new interview with Britain's The Times, the Microsoft mogul and philanthropist addressed his former marriage, almost exactly a year to the day that he and Melinda Gates announced their split in a joint statement. While they have since officially ended their 27-year union, Bill told the newspaper he would not have chosen to marry someone else and even gave marriage in general his stamp of approval. 

“Every marriage as the kids leave the house will go through a transition. Mine sadly went through this transition called divorce. But from my point of view it was a great marriage. I wouldn’t have changed it."

"You know, I wouldn’t choose to marry someone else," he continues, clarifying that he would marry Melinda all over again. 

As for whether he would tie the knot a second time, Bill says he doesn't have plans for his future, but does "highly recommend marriage."

Right now, the 66-year-old father of three confirms that, like his ex-wife, he is still grieving the relationship. "We grew up together. When I got married, yeah, Microsoft was a big deal. But I was a young 38-year-old and she was a mature 28-year old [when they married], and over those next few years, in terms of what we learnt together, what went well, what didn’t go well… I mean, that’s more than half my adult life," he says. "And so, yes, you’re very used to going home and saying, ‘Oh, I did this well,’ or, ‘Oh, I did this poorly,’ or, ‘Oh, I called this person the wrong name.’ We did a lot together.”

And he misses it. "I’m lucky that a part of it continues," Bill notes. "Which I think is super.”

Together, the two are still co-founding partners of their eponymous Gates Foundation. "I feel lucky that I get to work with her," he shares. "And we have the annual employee meeting at the Foundation and the Giving Pledge and the annual meeting in June that she and I host together.”

Though Bill would not answer a question about whether he had cheated -- a spokesperson previously confirmed he had an extramarital affair nearly 20 years earlier -- he did call himself and Melinda friends even though she would not. "In an interview she chose not to use that word, but I’ll use it," he says. "We have a, you know, super important, complex, close relationship where we’ve chosen to work together. And I’m very happy that we get to work together. You know, we built the Foundation together.”

As for Melinda, she told CBS Mornings' Gayle King that it "wasn’t one moment or one specific thing that happened" that caused their divorce. "There just came a point in time where there was enough there," she said, "that I realized it just wasn’t healthy and I couldn’t trust what we had." 

While Melinda is sticking to calling them friendly instead, according to Bill, the terms of their divorce settlement were also amicable. “She got the dog. She just killed me with that. No, I’m kidding," Bill shares. "The world should know how mistreated I was. No, I’m kidding. We weren’t mean to each other."

For more on Melinda's side of their divorce, here's a recap of her recent TV interview. 

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