Melinda French Gates Book’s biggest revelations

• Melinda French Gates’ new book The next day Is out now – And it is filled with stories from the biggest transitions in her life
• The biggest change, her divorce from Bill Gates, remains painful to talk about, but as she recently told People, “It was important for me to be real”
• Here are some of the book’s most remarkable moments and anecdotes

Melinda French gates have a lot to say in his new book about the most transformative moments in her life, which yes, includes How she decided to leave Exman Bill Gates.

“There is a lot that has happened in my life in recent years that I did not see coming,” writes French Gates at the beginning of his new book, The next dayOut Tuesday, April 15th.

At 60 years she has gone through a lot, including the journey of raise three childrenThe Death of a dear friendthe beginning of a new chapter while Spend billions in support of women and girls everywhereAnd a divorce, which remains painful for the philanthropist to talk about.

Still, as Melinda recently told People, “It was important for me to be real” – and that she hoped to share her side of the story, “It may be helpful to someone else.”

Continue reading for some of the largest bomb scales and remarkable anecdotes from the book.

Nightmares continued her divorce from Bill Gates

At the end of 2019, Melinda wrote that she regularly began to have nightmares about a beautiful house that collapsed all around her, visions that led to her woke up in panic. Her subconscious, she noted, was “a little obvious.”

“Bill has generally recognized That he was not always faithful to me, “she writes, continuing to mention a” deeply disturbing “article that was published that autumn, when the reports continued to grow about Bill’s previous meetings with sex offenders and financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Bill has called these meetings a mistake and recently said he was” was “was” was “was”stupid to spend some time“With Epstein and maintained that he sought charity support.)

Eventually, Melinda wrote her dreams turned into a vision of the then couples and their three children on the edge of a cliff when she “sank” in the void.

“As dramatic as it sounds,” she wrote, “I knew at that moment that I would have to make a decision – and that I would have to do it myself.”

A fateful trip to New Mexico

Although she originally tried to drive away her worries, when it didn’t work, she invited Bill to a trip in February 2020 to New Mexico. They tried to treat it “like all other holidays”, but the last night she told him she wanted to start living separately, with her left in their home With his youngest daughter, Phoebe, who was then senior in high school.

“It was one of the scariest conversations I had,” she wrote, reminiscent that Bill was “sad and upset” but also “understanding and respectful.”

At home in Seattle, they continued to work with the Gates Foundation while living separately – even making joint performances, which, Melinda noted, could be a little awkward.

“Sore” and strange moments after telling Bill that she wanted a divorce

On August, Melinda Bill told me that she wanted a divorce and they shared a long, even sometimes “sore” conversation.

“And then I got into the car to drive home,” she continued. “On the way back I went over to a parking lot and put on a Willie Nelson song that we used to listen to together,” always on my mind. “I dropped and cried over the wheel.”

“The day that followed was even more painful and more painful,” she continued. “I drove back to Hood Canal so I could check out Bill and so we could start talking about how we would say to our children. Eventually we got hungry, so we went out to get burgers.”

“It was a scene that had played hundreds of times between us. But this time we talked about how we would separate our lives,” she wrote.

Divorce negotiating panic attacks

When they had agreed to divorce, Melinda knew that the months would be tough. “Bill has a reputation for being one of the toughest negotiators in the world,” she wrote, noting that she “began to panic attacks.”

Although the process of completing their split was “cruel” and surprisingly long, when the agreement was reached, things moved quickly.

They took the weekend to tell some people near their foundation, and the day after, May 3, 2021, they posted their joint statement. When the news was spread, Melinda was at home with her daughter Phoebe, then 18, who at one point showed her mother a few memes about the announcement.

“We laughed a little, but I wasn’t really in a festive mood,” Melinda wrote.

The wedding video that now takes her to tears

On one occasion in the chapter on her divorce, Melinda reflects on a video from their wedding reception she used to watch almost every year around their anniversary. In the clip, the couple stands in front of their tiered wedding cake, but as Melinda wrote: “Bill doesn’t know what to do.”

“Instead of cutting a bit and feeding me a single piece like all other grooms in the story, but he was meant to cut a bit for all,” She continued. “When I found out what he was doing, I burst out and laughed so hard that I couldn’t talk.”

Although he originally looked confused “because he can say he got something wrong,” eventually he also started laughing, just because she was.

“It captures so many of the things I loved with him,” she wrote, noting that “looking at it now takes me to tears.”

Vaning 79 kg. During pregnancy

When she was pregnant with her daughter Jennifer – now 28 and a Mom to two – Melinda Got 79 kg.More than twice of what the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend.

“That weight was the external projection of something I began to know the other I saw the plus sign of the pregnancy test: freedom,” she wrote.

She and her doctor did not see eye to eye about it at first, but when they established her health was not at risk – nor the child’s – she told him that she “did not want to hear a single further word” about the subject, and that was it.

Welcomes his first child

On the morning of April 26, 1999, Melinda woke up to find her water had broken – but when she and Bill came to the hospital, she was told that she was not close ready to give birth, and the doctors discussed sending them home.

“In the end we settled on a compromise. I stayed at the hospital. Bill went to the office,” she wrote. “Before you roll your eyes, remember it really wasn’t something for him to do yet. Besides, I had a good book with me.”

“In the end, I spent most of the magical day cheerful alone,” she added.

That afternoon, her active work began and Bill went to the hospital – and Melinda asked him “to take off the sweater, because it smelled like the burger he had eaten on the road, and I was just too nauseous to deal with it.”

Before her daughter Jenner’s arrival, there was a “complication” with her positioning, and towards the end, in an attempt to avoid a C-section, Melinda joined a “a painful attempt to pull the child out with the help of a vacuum.” (An attempt that ended, she wrote, with the doctor “Shrieking,” Turn it off! “)

Finally, at 18:11 her daughter was born – and she was “absolutely beaten”

The origin of son Rory’s name

When that came time to name his sonMelinda knew she wanted to honor her friend John Neilson, who died shortly after her son’s birth.

In her new book, the Philanthropist wrote about her friendship with Neilson, whom she met at Microsoft shortly after she accepted a job at the company. The two became quick friends and would often spend time with their spouses.

“I once told John that next to our children and families, Bill and I felt that our relationship with John and Emmy was one of the most important things in our lives,” Melinda wrote. “In a way we grew up together.”

When Neilson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, his cancer spread rapidly and Melinda, then pregnant, felt helpless. He entered the hospice care when she was “more than nine months pregnant” and after making the decision to get an induction, she wanted to take the time to visit, for cases. “I didn’t want to miss my chance to say goodbye,” Melinda wrote.

Melinda said their conversation was “short but varying.” She told him that she loved him and that she “would give his name to my son.”

John did not die that night and in the book Melinda wrote that the last photo she has of them together was taken on his own porch, where he sits with her after she left the hospital. “There is joy in that picture,” she wrote, “because on his knee he keeps my son, Rory Gates. Rory John Gates.”

Become Grandma 58

In her book, Melinda, who welcomed her first child in the early 30s, said that one of the things she did not foresee at this stage in her life was becomes grandmother before he turns 60.

“During this season I have seen my life change in ways that I hoped for, way I fought and way I could never have imagined,” she writes in her book, which hits shelves on April 15. “At 58, much earlier in life than I expected, I became a grandmother.”

Despite her surprise, she embraced the grandmother’s role with open arms.

French Gates first became Grandma in February 2023, when her older daughter welcomed her girl, Leila2, with her husband Nayel Nassar. The couple is also the parents of daughter Mia, 5 months.

Grandma to two recently told People in an exclusive interview that she had “no idea” how “wonderful” it would be to become a grandparent.

“Every time I get to spend with these two little girls is just a joy,” she said.

The next day is available now.