"I did make a mistake and I'm responsible." On May 3, local time, Microsoft founder Bill Gates responded to allegations of marital infidelity a year after divorcing his wife of 27 years.
Speaking to Savannah Guthrie, the host of Today, Gates was asked, "Are you unfaithful to marriage?" Is this one of the reasons for divorce? The above is his answer.
Gates added, "I don't think it's constructive to delve into the details at this point, but yeah, I've caused pain and I'm bad about it." ”
Bill Gates and Melinda Gates announced their divorce in May 2021, which was completed in August of that year, and they have since continued to run the Gates Foundation together.
In March, Melinda also gave an interview to CBS about how the marriage had left her "tear-stained face for many days" and recalled lying on the carpet with only thoughts in her head, "How is this possible?" How can I get up to bed? What should I do in the future? ”
In the Interview with Today, Gates also said positively that listening to Melinda's sadness in the CBS interview is also a difficult thing for him, "It was a very difficult thing. We have a lot of great things in our marriages: kids, the fun we have. So it's a very tough adjustment. ”
Melinda responded to Gates' 20-year-old affair after the divorce decision was announced, "Of course I believe in forgiveness and forgiveness, so I think we've solved part of the problem." This thing did not happen suddenly at a certain time, nor did it happen because of a specific fuse. It was only at some point in time that I realized that the state was not right. ”
As for whether Gates had multiple extramarital affairs, Melinda only said, "This is a question that Bill needs to answer." ”
In addition to the affair, Melinda also talked about Epstein, who had made it clear to Gates that she didn't like his association with Epstein. Melinda had met Epstein once, "I wanted to see who this man was, and from the moment I stepped in the door, I regretted it." Melinda said there was a "visceral discomfort" when she met Epstein, "the embodiment of disgusting, evil." Afterwards I had nightmares, and thinking of the victims of the Epstein case, I felt heartbroken for these young women. ”
Gates first met American billionaire Epstein in 2011 after the financier was convicted in 2008 for soliciting sex from minors. In August 2019, Epstein was accused of setting up a network of underage women to conduct sex trafficking, after which he died mysteriously while awaiting trial in prison.
Guthrie, the host of "Today," explicitly asked Gates in an interview, "Why do you continue to meet with him?" By the time you met him, he was already a convicted sex offender. Do you regret it? ”
Gates replied, "I undoubtedly made a huge mistake, not only to meet him for the first time, but to see him many times. My goal was to raise money for global health, and I didn't realize that in meeting him, he almost downplayed the incredibly terrible things he had done. ”
Bill Gates and Epstein at Epstein's mansion in 2011
"Including Melinda's advice is reasonable and I should have followed it earlier." Gates said adding this mistake to his "big mistake list" was" and "he was a bad guy, but I had reason to think these meetings would lead to good results." I really shouldn't have met him. ”
The 66-year-old philanthropist has published a new book, "How to Prevent the Next Pandemic," which describes what steps should be taken now to use the experience of COVID-19 to prepare for the next pandemic.
Gates has proposed a team of thousands of people dedicated to research and epidemic prevention, with the ability to quickly travel to various outbreak sites. "We've had tens of millions of deaths, trillions of dollars in economic losses, education losses, depression. We can make sure that this doesn't happen again. ”
"There are more than three hundred thousand full-time firefighters in the U.S. alone. Because if a house burns down, it affects the entire community, so we take it seriously," Gates said. "The pandemic is more serious, but we're not doing it right." Gates argues that while the World Health Organization is important, it can't do all the necessary things to help prevent epidemics.
"In reality, they don't have the money to fly to every outbreak," he said, adding that WHO needs a "dedicated" team of personnel to help it work at the forefront of a potential epidemic.
In addition to hoping that the United States will be better prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic in medicine, the politicization of COVID-19 in the United States has made Gates regret that "unfortunately, neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party has fully articulated the benefits of masks and vaccines" Gates believes that misinformation is fatal during the new crown pandemic.
The book also discusses vaccine innovations, with Gates himself involved in the study of the COVID-19 vaccine and becoming the protagonist of numerous 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 cause death or track (them) and so on and so on and so on." It's hard to understand why this is the case. ”
In the interview, Gates also praised Musk's climate change initiative with Tesla and his innovations at SpaceX. Gates said Musk should improve Twitter to strike a better balance between free speech and confusing conspiracy theories. "I don't know exactly what he's going to do, but it's an opportunity and we need to innovate in that area."