Bill Gates does not have a publicly documented current spouse as of August 24, 2026. He was married to Melinda French Gates from 1994 until their divorce was finalized in August 2021. The former couple have three children—Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe—and have generally kept family life more private than Gates’s work in technology and philanthropy.
The clearest public record concerns Gates’s former marriage, the couple’s three children and their approach to parenting. It does not establish a current wife, husband or partner. Claims beyond those documented facts should be treated cautiously, especially when they concern adult children or private family arrangements.
Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates were married for 27 years
Gates met Melinda French in 1987, after she joined Microsoft as a product manager. They dated for several years and married in 1994 in Hawaii. Their relationship was closely connected to both their personal lives and their later philanthropic work, but the marriage itself was not presented as a public-relations partnership from the beginning. Reporting described the couple as keeping a relatively low profile at work and asking colleagues and relatives to respect their privacy.
According to Business Insider’s account of Bill and Melinda Gates’s marriage, the couple raised three children together and built the foundation that became their most visible joint institution. Melinda also described the relationship as changing over time, a point that is relevant to the later separation but does not by itself explain the private circumstances of their divorce.
In May 2021, Gates and French Gates announced that they had decided to end the marriage after what Gates described as a great deal of thought and work on their relationship. The divorce was finalized in August of that year. Melinda French Gates subsequently left the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2024, according to Biography.com’s profile of Melinda French Gates. The foundation’s continuing existence should not be confused with a continuing marriage.
Who are Bill Gates’s children?
Gates and French Gates have two daughters, Jennifer and Phoebe, and a son, Rory. These names and the basic fact that the couple raised three children are well established in the cited public reporting. The children were born into an exceptionally wealthy and prominent family, but their parents have not made every aspect of their lives public.
Public accounts have included selected details about the family’s upbringing. The South China Morning Post reported that the children were not allowed to have phones until age 14, were expected to keep phones away from the dinner table and participated in household chores. The same report said the family washed dishes together, presenting the practice as part of an effort to teach responsibility and avoid treating domestic work as belonging primarily to women.
Business Insider also reported that the children were raised in a Catholic setting. Gates said the family attended the Catholic church Melinda attended and that he participated. That description comes from an earlier period of the children’s lives; it should not be read as a current statement about their individual religious beliefs or practices.
Some public coverage has also discussed Jennifer Gates’s interest in equestrian competition and her parents’ support for that interest. Because the children are now adults, however, older accounts about schooling, routines or activities may not describe their present lives. This article does not add private addresses, schedules, contact information or other personal details that are not necessary to answer the family question.
What has Gates said about inheritance?
Gates has publicly said that his children will receive only a small portion of his wealth, with much of the remainder intended for charitable purposes. A 2021 South China Morning Post article described an often-repeated figure of approximately $10 million for each child. That number is an attributed estimate from earlier reporting, not a verified, current estate document or a guarantee of what each child will ultimately receive.
The underlying principle is better established than the dollar amount. Gates has said he wants his children to have enough freedom to pursue their own goals without being given so much money that work and independence become unnecessary. In the same public discussion, he described the inheritance as a small share of the family fortune and emphasized charitable giving.
Because fortunes, trusts, tax rules and estate plans can change, the $10 million figure should not be presented as a current fact. No supplied source provides a later binding inheritance schedule. The responsible conclusion is that Gates has publicly favored limited inheritances, while the exact amount remains uncertain.
Is Bill Gates dating or remarried?
The supplied public record confirms Gates’s divorce from Melinda French Gates but does not verify a current spouse or partner as of August 24, 2026. A lack of documentation is not proof that a person has no private relationship. It means only that this source set does not establish one. Reports or social-media claims that name a new wife, husband or partner should be checked against a direct statement or a reliable, current publication before being treated as fact.
For a broader overview of his work and public life, see the Newsr profile of Bill Gates. For the family angle, the durable facts are narrower: Gates’s marriage to Melinda French Gates ended in 2021, they have three children, and public reporting describes a deliberately modest approach to parenting despite the family’s wealth.
The public record answers the core spouse-and-family questions about Bill Gates without overstating what remains private: he is divorced from Melinda French Gates, they have three children, and no current spouse or partner is verified in the supplied sources as of August 24, 2026.
Sources and methodology
- South China Morning Post: https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3123759/bill-gates-and-wife-melindas-modest-parenting-style
- Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-and-melinda-gates-marriage-2017-11
- Biography.com: https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/melinda-gates
