Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates' Relationship Timeline

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty

After nearly three decades of marriage,Bill GatesandMelinda French Gatesannounced their divorce in May 2021.

“It wasn’t one moment or onespecific thing that happened. There just came a point in time where there was enough there that I realized it just wasn’t healthy, and I couldn’t trust what we had,” Melinda revealed toCBS Morningsin March 2022.

Throughout their 27-year union, the philanthropic couple welcomed three children together: daughtersJenniferandPhoebeand a son,Rory.

From a lackluster first date request to tying the knot in Hawaii, raising a family and ultimately splitting, here’s everything to know about Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates' relationship.

1987: Bill and Melinda first meet

Victor Malafronte/Hulton Archive/Getty

The Microsoft co-founder met his future wife, né Melinda French, soon after she started as a product manager at the company. After first connecting at a sales meeting in New York City, the then-CEO went up to Melinda in a parking lot and asked her on a date. She initially turned him down, citing his lack of spontaneity.

“He said, ‘You know, I was thinking maybe we could go out two weeks from [tonight],’ " the mom of three told AOL’s MAKERS in 2015. Unimpressed, she replied, “Two weeks from tonight? I have no idea what I’m doing two weeks from tonight,” she told him. “You aren’t spontaneous enough for me.”

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

1993: Bill and Melinda get engaged

Bill proposed to Melinda in 1993, six years into their relationship. While neither has opened up much about their engagement, Melinda noted in a 2017 essay forAARPthat the two celebrated their engagement with a trip to Africa in the fall of 1993.

The newly-engaged pair’s first visit to Africa became a deeply formative experience for the couple.

Calling the trip her “first real encounter with extreme poverty,” Melinda remarked that she and Bill “took a walk on a beach in Zanzibar and had the conversation that would end up changing our lives.” There, they agreed on where and how they would redistribute the wealth earned from Microsoft. A few years later, they formed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000.

January 1, 1994: Bill and Melinda get married in Hawaii

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After seven years of dating, the couple jetted off for their top-secret destination wedding on the Hawaii island of Lanai on New Year’s Day in 1994. The intimate, lavish affair took place at the Manele Bay Hotel, according to theSeattle Times, and was held in front of 130 of their family and friends. The couple reportedly bought out all 250 of the rooms at the hotel, as well as all of the helicopters on Maui, in order to maintain privacy and avoid media interference.

“They’re home,” said Microsoft spokesman Dean Katz at the time. “Everybody’s fine.”

1996: Melinda leaves Microsoft to become a stay-at-home mom

December 2, 1998: Bill and Melinda establish a children’s vaccine program

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection

The couple held a press conference in New York City at the end of 1998 to announce a $100 million investment in children’s vaccine access and distribution in developing countries. The evening prior, they were honored alongsideHillary Clintonat ​​the charity For All Kids benefit.

The pair welcomed their second child together, son Rory, in 1999. ​​

Describing Rory in an essay forTIMEin 2017, Melinda wrote he is “compassionate and curious.” She continued, “He’s intelligent and well-read and deeply informed about the wide range of issues that interest him. He’s a great son and a great brother. He’s inherited his parents' obsessive love of puzzles. But one of the things that makes me proudest is that Rory is a feminist.”

2000: Bill and Melinda establish the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“It’s absolutely a partnership of equals,” Melinda told CBS’s Sunday Morningabout their joint work on the foundation. “It’s important to both of us that the world understands that we are running this place together. This is our joint values being played out in the world.”

October 7, 2001: Bill and Melinda share a sweet moment

Jeff Vinnick/Allsport/Getty

The Seattle-based pair, who are avid tennis lovers, took a break from business to share a sweet look during the Schick XTreme III Tennis Challenge at Key Arena in their hometown in 2001.

The Gates' welcomed their third child, daughter Phoebe, in 2002. To mark Phoebe’s 13th birthday, Melinda wrote an essay forTIMEin which she described her youngest as “smart, playful, thoughtful, compassionate” and remarked on her hopes for a world in which young women would have equal opportunities.

2005: Bill and Melinda are namedTIME’sPersons of the Year

After their foundation pledged $750 million to vaccine access and distribution in January 2005, they were namedTIME’s Persons of the Year — alongside U2’sBono— under the title “The Good Samaritans.”

March 2, 2005: Bill and Melinda visit London

ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP

2015: Melinda founds Pivotal Ventures

In 2015, Melinda pledged $1 billion to launchPivotal Ventures, aimed at advancing women’s professional lives and achieving economic equality.

2016: Bill and Melinda are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their philanthropy

As a tribute to their work with their eponymous foundation, the Gateses were awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, thePresidential Medal of Freedom, in 2016.

April 21, 2017: Bill and Melinda are awarded the Legion of Honor for their philanthropy

Frederic Stevens/Getty

The following year, they received yet another award honoring their charity work — this time, the French Legion of Honor.

February 14, 2018: Bill and Melinda tell PEOPLE how they unwind

Speaking to PEOPLE in 2018, Bill and Melinda sharedwhat they do in their downtime. “We do a lot of reading and we do more jigsaw puzzles than most people. We watch a ton of video series. We recently watched all ofDownton Abbey,” Bill said.

Melinda added that the pair were watchingThis Is Usat the time, “although it can be very emotional some nights, and you have to say, ‘Okay, maybe we won’t do that,’ " she said.

In the same interview, Melinda reflected on their secret to their shared success.

“We lead this organization together — the goals, the people we hire, the values we set — we enjoy doing that together. Bill is the first person I want to talk to when I get back from being out in the field. We sharpen each other’s thinking.”

January 1, 2019: Bill and Melinda celebrate their 25th anniversary

Melinda shared a sweet tribute to her then-husband on their 25th anniversary in 2019, posting a video of a cake-cutting mishap from their wedding dayon Instagram.

“New Year’s Day 1994. We told you it was time to cut the cake. You thought that meant you needed to cut a slice for everyone and did some astonishingly quick math to calculate exactly how big each slice should be. This is the moment I realized what was happening—and also the moment you realized that cake had a cardboard middle and I had forgotten to mention it. I laughed so hard I couldn’t speak,” she wrote.

“I thought my heart was full that night, but the last 25 years have taught me just how full a heart can get. Happy anniversary, @thisisbillgates!”

September 20, 2019: Bill opens up about meeting Melinda for the first time

Michele Crowe/CBS

In 2019’s Netflix docuseriesInside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates, Bill and Melinda admitted thatneither of them saw their relationship turning seriousat first.

“When we first met, she had other boyfriends, and I had Microsoft,” Bill said. Melinda added, “I was new to Microsoft. There were a lot of men there.”

March 2020: Bill and Melinda donate to COVID-19 relief efforts

The following month, the billionaire shared that their foundation planned to fund seven factories developing potential vaccines at the time.

May 3, 2021: Bill and Melinda announce their divorce

After 27 years together, the pairannounced their separationin a joint statement on Twitter on May 3, 2021.

“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. 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,” they said.

“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,” they concluded the statement.

August 2, 2021: Bill and Melinda finalize their divorce

October 16, 2021: Bill and Melinda reunite for daughter Jennifer’s wedding

Lou Rocco/Disney General Entertainment Content

The newly-divorced pairreunited publicly for the first timeat their daughter Jennifer’s wedding toNayel Nassarin October 2021.

​​"So grateful we were able to find a way to safely gather for this special day. ❤,” Melinda wrote on Instagram.

December 2021: Bill opens up about his “difficult year” after their divorce

March 3, 2022: Melinda breaks her silence on their divorce

Melinda spoke about the pair’s split in an exclusive interview with CBSMornings’Gayle King in March 2022. “Well, we certainly have a working relationship,” she shared. “And I would saywe’re friendly at this point. ‘Friends’ is a different word for me, and that might come over time, but for me there’s still healing that needs to happen.”

At another point in the interview, Melinda shared that she felt like she “needed to take a different path” than where their relationship was leading. The decisionwas an emotional one, she admitted, noting that she cried “a lot of tears for many days” and found herself thinking, “How can this be? How can I get up? How am I gonna move forward?”

She added that beyond the sadness, there was anger as well. “I mean, this is painful stuff,” she said.

Now, she’s “starting to get to the other side” on her “journey to healing,” she shared.

When asked if she’d be open to dating in the future, she replied that she “definitely” is and is already “dipping [her] toe in that water a little bit.” She added, “I hope that happens for me again.”

May 1, 2022: Bill reflects on his “great” marriage to Melinda

Justin Sullivan/Getty

Gates opened up about processing his divorce in an interview with theSunday Times.. “I’m also grieving the same way she is,” Gates told the outlet. “You know, we grew up together.”

Reflecting on their early relationship, he explained, “I was a young 38-year-old and she was a mature 28-year-old [when we married] and over those next few years, in terms of what we learned together, what went well, what didn’t go well … I mean, that’s more than half my adult life. We did a lot together.”

He added that while their relationship has changed, he still feels “lucky that a part of it continues” through their work on the foundation.

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

September 2022: Bill and Melinda reunite at their foundation’s Goalkeepers event

The former couple have been adamant about continuing their working relationship through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In September 2022, theyboth attended the foundation’s annual Goalkeepers event in New York City.

“We met for the first time with our board of trustees last week in person,” Melinda toldBloomberg. “What I think they would all tell you is that Bill and Melinda remain completely committed to this institution and to working effectively together. And that’s what we’re doing today.”

At the event, Bill and Melinda posed for photos with a number of world leaders and the year’s four winners. They also gave separate speeches.

October 3, 2022: Melinda calls her divorce from Bill “unbelievably painful”

Speaking toFortunemagazine, the philanthropistdiscussed her split from ex-husband Bill. “I had some reasons I just couldn’t stay in that marriage anymore,” she said in the interview. “But the odd thing about COVID is that it gave me the privacy to do what I needed to do.”

She continued, “It’s unbelievably painful, in innumerable ways, but I had the privacy to get through it.”

The philanthropist also told the publication that her “main concern” was “trying to protect my kids through it.” She added, “And we got to the other side.”

December 20, 2022: Bill writes about his and Melinda’s divorce in a blog post

In his annualyear-end poston theGates Notes blog, Bill mentioned his divorce from Melinda.

“Because of my position, I’m insulated from many of these hardships,” he wrote, referencing the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and economic challenges. “But I too have hit some personal low points over the past few years, including the death of my father and the end of my marriage.”

He continued, “Being wealthy makes my life much more comfortable, but not more fulfilling. For that, I need family, friends, and a job where I work on things that matter. I’m grateful to have all three.”

February 8, 2023: A source confirms that Bill and Paula Hurd are dating

PEOPLE has confirmed that Bill is dating Paula Hurd — the widow ofMark Hurd, former CEO of Oracle, who died in October 2019.

“It’swidely known that Bill Gates and Paula Hurd are dating, but she hasn’t met his kids yet,” a source said.

The news of the couple’s blossoming relationship came less than a week afterBBC News' Amol Rajan asked the billionaire if he hoped to find love again. To which Bill responded: “Sure, I’m not a robot.”

September 14, 2023: Bill and Melinda reunite to celebrate daughter Phoebe’s birthday

When Phoebe turned 21 in September 2023, Bill and Melinda reunited tocelebrate her birthdayin New York City.

Earlier in the day, each of her parents wished their youngest daughter a happy birthday on Instagram, with Billwriting, “You’ll always be my little girl, but watching you do big things has never surprised me. I’m so proud of you.”

May 13, 2024: Melinda resigns from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

In May 2024, Melinda announced onInstagramthat she would be stepping down from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She shared that her last day would be June 7, writing that it was “not a decision I came to lightly.”

“After careful thought and reflection, I have decided to resign from my role as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” she wrote.

She went on to add that per the terms of her agreement, she would go forward with an additional $12.5 billion to “commit to my work on behalf of women and families.”

In a post onLinkedIn, Bill thanked Melinda for her contributions to the foundation, writing, “As a co-founder and co-chair Melinda has been instrumental in shaping our strategies and initiatives, significantly impacting global health and gender equality. I am sorry to see her leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work.”

June 18, 2024: Melinda says life post-divorce is “wonderful”

During an interview withTIME, Melinda said life has been “wonderful” since splitting from Bill and finding a home she adores.

“I live in a neighborhood. Now I can walk to little stores. I can walk to the drugstore, I can walk to a restaurant,” she told the outlet. “I absolutely love it.”

January 25, 2025: Bill says his divorce from Melinda is the “mistake I most regret”

Melinda Gates and Bill Gates in 2019.Christopher Farber/Gates Archive

In an interview withThe Times of London, Gates reflected on his divorce. He told the outlet that the unraveling of his marriage is at the top of his life of failures.

“There are others but none that matter,” he said. “The divorce thing was miserable for me and Melinda for at least two years. [It’s]the mistake I most regret.”

source: people.com