During Tuesday’s episode of NPR’s Wild Card podcast, the 61-year-old said she felt horribly sorry for the victims of Epstein.
‘I think we’re having a reckoning as a society, right? No girl, no girl should ever be put in the situation that they were put in by Epstein and whatever was going on with all of the various people around him,’ she said, shaking her head.
She added: ‘It’s beyond heartbreaking. I remember being those ages those girls were, I remember my daughters being those ages.
‘So, for me, it’s personally hard whenever those details come up, right? Because it brings back memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage.’
She then made a sharp pivot, telling podcast host Rachel Martin that she had nothing to do with what had come to light.
‘I purposely pushed it away and I moved on. I’m in a really unexpected, beautiful place in my life. So whatever questions remain there of what, I don’t [and] can’t even begin to know all of it, those questions are for those people and even my ex-husband,’ she stated. ‘They need to answer those questions, not me.’
Melinda, who has two daughters and a son with Gates, added: ‘And I am so happy to be away from all the muck.’
When asked specifically about how the recent details about her ex-husband’s alleged affairs made her feel, she responded: ‘Sad. Just unbelievable sadness. Unbelievable sadness.’
The emails were among the hundreds of thousands of Epstein files published by the Department of Justice on Friday morning.
The release also included multiple new, undated images of Epstein and Gates together in various locations.
Melinda and Gates were married from 1994 to 2021. She cited Gates’s affairs and friendship with Epstein as reasons for the divorce, but has not divulged further details.
Melinda reportedly hired lawyers to plan the split in 2019, after reports emerged about his repeated meetings with Epstein, contradicting the Microsoft founder’s earlier public denials.
She retained counsel after becoming concerned about her husband’s alleged business dealings with the pedophile financier, The Wall Street Journal reported.
