Melinda French Gates is embracing a new chapter. The businesswoman and philanthropist has shared details of her new relationship and her difficult divorce from Bill Gates. The new stage of her life seems to be filled with clarity, self-empowerment, and what she calls a “pretty great” relationship.
Melinda recently opened up about her personal life, revealing on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' that she’s found happiness again in love. With a warm smile, she detailed, “It’s been pretty great,” she said, after Colbert congratulated her on the new romance. She responded with a simple, heartfelt, “Thank you!”
She also told PEOPLE that she’s “very, very happy" with a new partner. Speculation has swirled around her relationship with tech entrepreneur Philip Vaughn. The two have been photographed multiple times, most recently, hand-in-hand en route to a Broadway show in New York City.
Vaughn, 48, is the founder of the craft beer delivery service Tavour and previously worked at Microsoft, where French Gates herself once worked, and met her former husband.
Melinda and Bill finalized their divorce in 2021 after 27 years of marriage and three children: Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe. Speaking candidly about that time, Melinda described the breakup as one of the hardest yet most important decisions of her life.
“If you can’t live your values out inside your most intimate relationship, it was necessary,” she told The Sunday Times. “And if you can’t, you can’t have intimacy and you can’t have trust. So in the end, I had to go,” she added.
“I found myself losing a sense of self in the decade or so before my marriage fell apart,” Melinda told PEOPLE, before opening up about her dating life.
“I have had so many friends introduce me to people, and it’s been lovely,” she said, while also acknowledging that her high-profile status can be intimidating to potential partners. “I’m not really looking for somebody who would be intimidated by my status.”