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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsYes—but she said it was one factor among many, not the sole reason. In a 2022 interview, Melinda French Gates said she objected to Bill Gates’s meetings with Jeffrey Epstein and had made that clear to him. Her 2026 comments about painful memories revisited that period; they did not newly identify Epstein as the cause of the divorce.
What Melinda French Gates said about Epstein and the divorce
In a March 3, 2022, interview with Gayle King on CBS, French Gates said the end of the marriage involved “not one thing but many things.” She specifically named Bill Gates’s meetings with Epstein as something she opposed: “I did not like that he had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, no. I made that clear to him.” Vanity Fair’s account of the interview reported those remarks.
That establishes a connection between the meetings and marital tension in her account. It does not establish that Epstein was the only or decisive cause of the divorce.
What her 2026 remarks did—and did not—add
In February 2026, after new coverage of Epstein-related files, French Gates said the details brought back “some very, very painful times in my marriage.” She also said the people involved, including her ex-husband, needed to answer remaining questions: “They need to answer to those things, not me.” NPR’s report on her interview with Wild Card and ABC News’ account describe her response.
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Those comments expressed the personal impact of the new reporting and directed questions to the people involved. In the excerpts reported, she did not make a new, explicit claim that Epstein caused the divorce. The relevant direct statement about the marriage remains her 2022 description of his meetings as one of many issues and a source of objection.
What the reported Epstein-file allegations mean
Reports in 2026 described the new material as draft emails authored by Epstein that contained allegations about Gates. An allegation appearing in a draft is not, by itself, proof that the allegation is true. NPR reported that a Gates spokesperson called the claims false and said Epstein had been frustrated that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates.
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Keep three things distinct: French Gates’s account of her marriage, allegations attributed to Epstein’s drafts, and Gates’s response to those allegations. They are not interchangeable forms of evidence.
How the chronology fits together
- 2011–2014: The Associated Press reported that Gates described his relationship with Epstein as spanning these years. AP said the relationship began after Epstein’s 2008 Florida guilty plea.
- 2021: The Gateses announced their divorce in May; French Gates finalized it that year. They had been married for 27 years, according to Vanity Fair and The Guardian.
- March 2022: French Gates publicly said the Epstein meetings were among the factors she objected to in the marriage.
- February 2026: She said new file-related details brought back painful memories and that the people involved should answer questions.
- June 2026: AP reported that Gates testified in a closed-door House Oversight Committee interview. He called meeting Epstein “a grave error in judgment,” denied wrongdoing, and said their relationship ran from 2011 to 2014. AP also reported that Gates had not been accused in connection with Epstein’s crimes. Read AP’s account of the testimony.
Did French Gates meet Epstein?
Yes. In the 2022 CBS interview, French Gates said she met Epstein once to see who he was and regretted it as soon as she entered. In a later interview with The Guardian, published June 13, 2026, she reiterated her objection to Bill Gates maintaining contact with Epstein and described Epstein as abhorrent.
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What can be stated with confidence
- French Gates said in 2022 that Bill Gates’s meetings with Epstein were one of several factors in the end of the marriage and that she had objected to them.
- Her 2026 remarks conveyed painful memories and said the people involved should answer questions; they were not a new explicit account of the divorce’s cause.
- The allegations described in Epstein-authored draft emails remain allegations, and Gates denied wrongdoing.
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