Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, are ending their marriage after 27 years. They announced their split with a joint statement on Monday.
The two have been married since January 1994 and share three children together — 21-year-old Rory, 18-year-old Phoebe and 25-year-old Jennifer.
“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” the statement reads. “Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives. We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”
According to court documents obtained by ET, Bill and Melinda have a separation contract and are asking for the court to divide their debts and liabilities, real property and personal property as set forth in the separation contract. No spousal support is being requested. Their court date is set for April 4, 2022.
“This marriage is irretrievably broken,” the court documents read. “We ask the court to dissolve our marriage and find that our marital community ended on the date stated in our separation contract.”
The former couple launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, its main goals being to enhance healthcare and to reduce extreme poverty across the globe, and to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology in the U.S.
In a 2019 interview with The Sunday Times, 56-year-old Melinda talked about being married to the 65-year-old Microsoft co-founder.
“We’ve just gotten to a point in life where Bill and I can both laugh about more things,” she said of being married for more than two decades. “And, believe me, I can remember some days that were so incredibly hard in our marriage where you thought, ‘Can I do this?'”
