Melinda French Gates was interviewed for an NPR podcast on Monday and was asked about new emails released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files that refer to her ex-husband, Bill Gates. Melinda talked about how sad she felt about the incident and seemed to confirm something long believed about her divorce: Bill’s interactions with Epstein were involved in the reason Melinda broke up with the Microsoft co-founder.

Melinda appeared on a new episode of the podcast series Wild Card with Rachel Martin, asking about the “elephant in the room,” a reference to the fact that Bill Gates has again appeared in files held by the US government.

“I think we have a reckoning as a society, right? No woman, no woman should be put in the situation that Epstein put them in and whatever happened to all the different people around him. No woman, I mean, it’s more than heartbreaking, right? I remember the ages of those women. I remember my daughters at those ages, right?” Melinda Gates said.

Melinda said it “brought back memories of some very painful times in my marriage,” but that she has moved on from that. She went on to say that she is in a good place in her own life and that questions on the subject should be directed at her ex-husband.

“So whatever questions are left there, what I don’t, can’t even begin to know all of them, those questions are for people and even my ex-husband. They have to answer those things, not me. And I’m very happy to be away from all the dirt that’s out there,” said Melinda.

Bill and Melinda divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage. The New York Times reported in 2019 that Bill had met with Epstein more times than previously known. At the time, Bill said it was because Epstein was seeing a lot rich peoplewhich is true.

Rachel Martin went on to explain in an interview with Melinda on Monday that the “muck” included allegations that “Bill Gates has extra affairs and that he’s trying to get medicine to treat a sexually transmitted infection, and that he’s going to give you medicine that you don’t know about.”

The allegations are about an email Epstein sent himself on July 18, 2013.

“From helping Bill get drugs, to dealing with the consequences of having sex with Russian women, to
facilitating​​​​his forbidden attempts, with married women, who were asked to provide more bridge toumamnts. because I am a medical doctor, but do not have the ability to write prescriptions,” Epstein wrote to himself, with several typos.

The email is confusing because Epstein is not a medical doctor. But the allegation about Bill Gates having sex with “Russian women” seems to be related to a report from Wall Street Journal in 2023 Epstein allegedly tried to threaten Bill because of his alleged relationship with Mila Antonova, a Russian bridge player in her 20s.

During the the interview on Monday, Rachel Martin made sure to note that Bill Gates said everything was a lie, but she asked Melinda what her dominant emotion was this time.

“Sadness, unbelievable sadness. Unbelievable sadness, right? And again, I can take my own sadness and look at those young women and say, ‘My God, how did they … how did that happen to those girls,’ right? And so for me, it’s sadness, sadness for, you know…”

Melinda continued to discuss the topic while showing an effort to express it properly.

“I’m leaving, I have to… I’m leaving my marriage, I have to leave my marriage. I want to leave my marriage. I have to leave the… I feel like I have to leave the Foundation. So it’s just sad. That’s the truth, right?” he said. Melinda left the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in May 2024.

“And it’s like, at least for me, I’ve moved on in life. And I hope there’s justice for these women today, right? We saw them standing in front of the microphones in DC. What they went through is unimaginable, I think.”

“These claims are completely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents show is Epstein’s frustration that he didn’t have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to in order to be framed and slandered.”

Bill Gates’ representatives at the Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to an email on Tuesday, but told NPR that the claims surrounding Epstein are false.

“These claims are completely absurd and completely false,” a spokesperson told Gizmodo via email. “The only thing these documents show is Epstein’s frustration that he didn’t have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to in order to be framed and slandered.”