Bill Gates regrets his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
“In retrospect, I was foolish to spend any time with him,” the tech mogul told The Wall Street Journal last Friday.
“I think I was quite stupid. I thought it would help me with global health philanthropy. In fact, it failed to do that. It was just a huge mistake,” he explained at the eight-minute mark above, adding that he “definitely” became more wary of who he spent time with after Epstein, who became a convicted child sex offender in 2008.
The late financier was later charged with sex trafficking and federal conspiracy in 2019 and ultimately died by suicide while incarcerated.
According to the publication, in 2017, Epstein threatened to reveal Gates’ alleged affair after the Microsoft co-founder refused to join Epstein’s multibillion-dollar charitable fund with JPMorgan Chase. Gates was allegedly cheating on his wife, Melinda, for years with Mila Antonova.
It was Melinda who filed for divorce in 2021 after 27 years of marriage, citing Gates’ relationship with Epstein as one of the factors in her decision.
“I did not like that [Bill] had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made it that clear to him,” she said on CBS Mornings in 2022. “I regretted it the second I walked in the door. [Epstein] was abhorrent. He was evil personified."
In an interview with the Times of London, Gates divulged that his divorce from Melinda was the “mistake” he most regrets in his life.
In that time, Bill started dating Paula Hurd, widow to the late Oracle CEO Mark Hurd, and Melinda is dating entrepreneur Philip Vaughn. The former couple share three kids, 28-year-old Jennifer, 25-year-old Rory, and 22-year-old Phoebe.
Gates’ new memoir, Source Code, is slated to arrive on Feb. 4.
