Melinda French Gates, the philanthropist and former wife of Bill Gates, said that references to her ex-husband in newly released files related to Jeffrey Epstein, including claims that Mr. Gates had engaged in extramarital sex, had left her with “unbelievable sadness.”
Mr. Gates was among the high-profile figures named in a batch of files released by the Justice Department on Friday. The new files include emails from Mr. Epstein, both addressed to Mr. Gates and sent to himself, in which he suggested that Mr. Gates had engaged in extramarital sex. Ms. French Gates addressed the new files on NPR’s “Wild Card” podcast, a portion of which was published on Tuesday.
Mr. Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019, wrote that he had helped the Microsoft co-founder to get drugs to “deal with consequences of sex with russian girls,” and to facilitate trysts with married women.
Mr. Epstein complained in another note, sent to himself, that Mr. Gates had chosen to “disregard and discard” a friendship developed over six years. In the email, he said that Mr. Gates had requested that he delete emails regarding a sexually transmitted infection, and asked for antibiotics to “surreptitiously give to Melinda.”
It was unclear if Mr. Epstein had sent the emails, dated July 2013, to Mr. Gates.
A representative for Mr. Gates said in an emailed statement on Wednesday that Mr. Gates “unequivocally denies any improper conduct related to Epstein and the horrible activities in which Epstein was involved.” Mr. Gates acknowledged that meeting Mr. Epstein was a “serious error in judgment.”
The statement added: “Mr. Gates never visited Epstein’s island, never attended parties with him, and had no involvement in any illegal activities associated with Epstein.”
Asked about her reaction to the newly released files in an NPR podcast, which was set to released in full on Thursday, Ms. French Gates did not directly refer to the underlying accusations. But she said that they brought back painful personal memories.
“For me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up,” Ms. French Gates said. “Brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage.”
She added that “whatever questions remain there” about Mr. Epstein’s ties to other people “are for those people, and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me.”
In an earlier statement, after the release of the new files on Friday, a representative for Mr. Gates said: “These claims — from a proven, disgruntled liar — are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”
Mr. Gates’s relationship with Mr. Epstein began around 2011, after Mr. Epstein had already been convicted of soliciting prostitution of a minor. Ms. French Gates’s discomfort with that relationship, which came under public scrutiny in 2019, contributed to her decision to initiate divorce proceedings. The couple announced their divorce in 2021.
In a 2021 interview with CNN, Mr. Gates said he had met with Mr. Epstein to seek funding for his foundation, and said that it had been a “huge mistake” to spend time with him.
Pivotal Ventures, an investing group founded by Ms. French Gates, did not immediately return a request for comment.
In the podcast clip, Ms. French Gates also expressed support for the alleged victims of Mr. Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. “No girl should ever be put in the situation that they were put in by Epstein and whatever was going on with all of the various people around him,” she said. “It’s beyond heartbreaking.”
Isabella Kwai is a Times reporter based in London, covering breaking news and other trends.
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