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The announcement of their divorce took the world by surprise last week.

But according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Melinda Gates had been preparing to separate from her husband, tech billionaire Bill Gates, for more than a year.

The 56-year-old had already spoken to lawyers in October 2019 and said the marriage was "irrevocably broken," the newspaper reported on Sunday, citing official documents and people familiar with the matter.

Accordingly, the decision was also about Melinda Gates' discomfort about her husband's contact with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In 2013, she criticized her ex-husband's connections to Epstein.

The Daily Beast reported something similar.

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The "New York Times" revealed in October 2019 that Microsoft founder Gates Epstein met several times - once until late at night.

A Gates spokeswoman said at the time that the meetings were about philanthropy issues.

Epstein was charged in 2019 with running an abuse ring for the sexual exploitation of minors.

He died on remand under dubious circumstances.

Jeffrey Eptstein featured in a photograph in the New York State of Sex Offenders File

Source: AP

So far, Melinda and Bill Gates have not given specific reasons for the separation, instead they asked for “space and privacy for our family” at the beginning of “this new life”.

The marriage resulted in three children: daughters Jennifer Katharine, born in 1996, and Phoebe Adelle, born in 2002, as well as their son Rory John, born in 1999.

In 2000, Bill and Melinda Gates co-founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private charitable foundation in the world.

It employs 1,600 people, according to information on its website, and has spent roughly $ 54 billion in 20 years.

The foundation is involved, among other things, in the fight against extreme poverty and disease worldwide and is also active in the fight against the corona pandemic.