‘Put it back in society’

Melinda French Gates has opened up about what it’s like to be a billionaire, saying her mega wealth comes with a “great responsibility.”

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that her financial status feels “surreal” at times.

“The weighty part is when you go out in the field and you see the needs of people on the ground,” French Gates, 60, told the publication. “You see how they’re struggling to make ends meet. A single mom whose mother gets sick, who used to be her childcare for her four-month-old baby, that’s what’s hard.”

French Gates, who boasts an estimated net worth of $11.3 billion, according to Forbes, spent more than 20 years in philanthropy since she and her ex-husband launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000.

“I wanted to be able to use every tool in my toolbox,” she said. “Some philanthropic dollars, investment dollars — and to be able to speak about policy. The LLC gives me a lot of flexibility to do that.”

The mom of three told the outlet that some of her personal wealth contributes to political campaigns.

In 2022, French Gates told CBS Mornings that fellow billionaires should follow suit and give away some of their wealth to causes they care about.

“If you are lucky enough to be a billionaire, believe me, you can give away half of it and not change your life,” she said at the time. “We should have a society where if for whatever reason wealth is in your hands, you put it back in society so that you change and you lift up others.”

In May, French Gates announced her departure from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — one of the world’s biggest private charitable foundations — as she donated $1 billion over the next two years to support women and family organizations.

She revealed that she would be starting her own philanthropic endeavor.

The billionaire benefactors parted ways in 2021 after 27 years of marriage but had pledged to continue their philanthropic work together.

French Gates also received about $6 billion worth of stock during the early days of her divorce from Gates.

Their final divorce order filed in a Seattle court had no details on an agreement reached between the two on how to divide their marital assets.

“Under the terms of my agreement with Bill, in leaving the foundation, I will have an additional $12.5 billion to commit to my work on behalf of women and families,” Melinda Gates wrote on social media in May.

The foundation is one of the most powerful and influential forces in global public health, having spent more than $75 billion since its inception to bring a business approach to combating poverty and disease.

From 1994 through 2018, Bill and Melinda gifted about $59.5 billion to the Seattle-based foundation, its website said.