"I did make a mistake and I have to take responsibility." On May 3 local time, Microsoft founder Bill Gates responded to allegations of marital infidelity a year after he divorced his wife of 27 years. In a conversation with Savannah Guthrie, the host of today, Gates was asked, "are you unfaithful to your marriage? Is that one of the reasons for divorce?" That's his answer.
Gates added, "I don't think it's constructive to delve into the details at this point, but yes, I caused pain, and I feel bad about it."
Bill Gates and Melinda Gates announced their divorce in May 2021 and completed it in August of that year. Since then, they have continued to run the Gates foundation together.
In March this year, Melinda also gave an interview with CBS. She said that the marriage change made her "wash her face with tears for many days", and recalled that she was lying on the carpet and thinking "how is this possible? How can I get up? What should I do in the future?"
In today's interview, Gates also talked positively about that listening to Melinda's sadness revealed in the CBS interview is also a difficult thing for him, "it's a very difficult thing. We have a lot of good things in our marriage: children, the fun we have. So this is a very difficult adjustment."
As for the extramarital affair 20 years ago that Gates admitted after the divorce decision was announced, Melinda responded, "of course I believe in forgiveness and forgiveness, so I think we have solved part of the problem. It didn't happen suddenly at some time, nor did it happen because of a specific fuse. It was just that at some point in time, I realized that the state was wrong."
As for whether Gates had multiple extramarital affairs, Melinda only said, "this is the question bill needs to answer."
In addition to the affair, Melinda also talked about Epstein. She had made it clear to gates that she didn't like his relationship with Epstein. Melinda met Epstein once. "I just wanted to see who this man was. I regretted it the moment I stepped in the door." Melinda said there was a "heartfelt discomfort" when she met Epstein. "He was a disgusting, evil incarnation. Afterwards, I had a nightmare. I was heartbroken for these young women when I thought of the victims of Epstein."
Gates first met American billionaire Epstein in 2011 after the financier was convicted of soliciting sex from minors in 2008. In August 2019, Epstein was accused of establishing a network of underage women for sex trading, and then died strangely while awaiting trial in prison.
"Today" host gersley explicitly asked gates in the interview, "why did you continue to meet him? When you met him, he was already a convicted sex offender. Do you regret it?"
Gates replied, "I undoubtedly made a huge mistake, not only the first time I saw him, but I have seen him many times. My goal is to raise money for global health, and I didn't realize that when I met him, he almost played down the incredible and terrible things he did."
Bill Gates and Epstein took a group photo at their mansion in Epstein in 2011
"Including Melinda's suggestion is reasonable, and I should follow it earlier." Gates added the mistake to his "big mistake list." he was a bad guy, but I had reason to think these meetings would bring good results. I really shouldn't have met him. "
The 66 year old philanthropist has published a new book entitled "how to prevent the next pandemic", which describes the steps that should be taken now to use the experience of covid-19 to prepare for the next pandemic.
Gates proposed the establishment of a team of thousands of people dedicated to the research and prevention of epidemics, which has the ability to quickly travel to various outbreak sites. "We have tens of millions of deaths, trillions of dollars in economic losses, education Loss, depression. We can make sure it doesn't happen again. "
"There are more than 300000 full-time firefighters in the United States alone. Because if a house is burned down, it will affect the whole community, so we take it seriously," Gates said. "The pandemic is more serious, but we are not ready." Gates believes that although the World Health Organization is important, it cannot do all the necessary things to help prevent epidemics.
"In fact, they don't have the money to fly to every outbreak," he added, adding that who needs a "dedicated" team of people to help it work at the forefront of potential epidemics.
In addition to hoping that the United States will be better prepared for the new coronal pandemic in medicine, gates regrets the politicization of covid-19 in the United States. "Unfortunately, both Democrats and Republicans did not fully explain the benefits of masks and vaccines." Gates believes that during the new coronal pandemic, wrong information is fatal.
The book also discusses vaccine innovation. Gates himself participated in the research of covid-19 vaccine and became the protagonist of many conspiracy theories in the United States. He responded, "it's a very strange thing, just because I support vaccines to save millions of lives. People say I make money from vaccines, or I try to kill or track [them] and so on. It's hard to understand why."
In the interview, Gates also praised musk and Tesla's climate change initiative and his innovation in SpaceX. Gates said musk should improve twitter and strike a better balance between free speech and confusing conspiracy theory. "I don't know what he will do, but this is an opportunity. We need to innovate in that field."