Bill Gates is finally addressing his reported friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein . “In retrospect, I was foolish to spend any time with him. And he, sort of, got time with various people by spending time with other people,” Gates, 69, told the Wall Street Journal in a wide-ranging interview published on Friday, January 24.
“So yes, I think I was quite stupid. I thought it would help me with global health philanthropy. In fact, it failed to do that it was just a huge mistake.
” Gates went on to say that the controversies surrounding Epstein prior to his 2019 arrest and subsequent death in August of the same year have made him more cautious about meeting new people now. “Definitely,” he told the Wall Street Journal . “I mean, are you kidding?” In 2022 Gates’ ex-wife Melinda French Gates cited his alleged relationship with Epstein as one of the factors that led to their divorce.
“It’s not one thing, it was many things. But I did not like that he’d had meetings with Jeffrey Epstein,” she told CBS Mornings at the time. “I made that clear to him.
” French Gates also told Gayle King she met with Epstein “exactly one time” so she could get an understanding of what he was like. “I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door,” she added. “He was abhorrent.
He was evil personified. I had nightmares about it afterwards. .
.. It was awful, and he was awful.
” Authorities began to investigate allegations of sexual abuse again.
