Did Jeffrey Epstein tell Bill Gates to divorce Melinda? Billionaire allegedly sought advice on 'toxic' marriage
Less than a week after reports alleged that Melinda Gates was furious with her husband's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, latest reports claim that the convicted sex offender had suggested Bill Gates leave his wife. According to sources, Epstein had made the remarks during the countless visits Bill allegedly paid him at his $77M New York Manhattan mansion after he was convicted of soliciting minors.
According to people well acquainted with these 'men's club'-style get-togethers at Epstein's mansion, Bill's visits to the pedophile's 'lair' were an escape from his unhappy marriage, The Daily Beast reported. The source also alleged that the men were "very close", which suggests they were much tighter than Bill had initially admitted during a 2019 The New York Times probe into his alliances with the convict.
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Bill Gates called his marriage 'toxic'
The outlet reported that Bill went so far as to even seek marriage advice from Epstein in his several meetings with the convicted pedophile at his Manhattan townhouse between 2011 and 2014. Bill allegedly described his marriage to Melinda as 'toxic' in conversations with Epstein and both the men found this amusing, the report claims. The two were associated through the couple's philanthropic Gates Foundation where Epstein had become involved following his 2008 conviction to "rehabilitate his image". Their friendship reportedly blossomed in 2011, which was three years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
People who had attended these meetings where both Bill and Epstein were present revealed that the two would talk science and philanthropy along with jokes and gossip. But Melinda was not happy with this union. In fact, she was so incensed by the friendship that she allegedly began speaking to a divorce lawyer immediately after NYT ran an expose on the pair's closeness in October 2019. As previously reported by MEAWW, she had felt uncomfortable about being in Epstein's presence and her husband being friends with him after meeting the predator at his Upper East Side townhouse in 2013.
Bill and Epstein's friendship made Melinda 'furious'
Sources claim that Melinda was "furious" at this budding friendship between Bill and Epstein. She also reportedly expressed how she wanted nothing to do with the sex offender, which eventually became a turning point for the two men's alliance. Although Epstein had already been welcomed back into New York's elite society, Bill had mailed his employees about meeting him for the first time writing, "His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me."
The Microsoft founder also told Wall Street Journal in 2019, "I didn't have any business relationship or friendship with him." Amid further revelations by The New York Times, a spokeswoman said, "Bill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein and recognizes it was an error in judgment to do so." They added that the "characterization of his meetings with Epstein and others about philanthropy is inaccurate," and also clarified "similarly, any claim that Gates spoke of his marriage or Melinda in a disparaging manner is false".
Melinda and Bill announced their allegedly long-planned divorce on May 4 with a touching joint statement informing the public of their split after 27 years of togetherness. Epstein died in August 2019 in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York, while awaiting trial for child sex trafficking charges.