"We should give back": Bill Gates' ex-wife on giving away her $16bn fortune
Melinda French Gates has opened up on her decision to give away her fortune after leaving the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in June.
Melinda, who is reportedly worth $16.8 billion, said that she will stick with her decision to give away her fortune on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, as it's "the right thing to do for society".
"If we grew up in the United States, anybody who has grown up in this country has been really lucky and I don't care who you are," she explained.
"To be able to go to a decent school, grow up and pursue your career, and if so you are a billionaire, my gosh, you have benefited from this country, right?
"So we should give back."
She also feels there is "a responsibility and to do it in a way that's incredibly thoughtful".
Melinda, who divorced the Microsoft founder Bill Gates back in 2021, has announced her plans to focus on her organisation Pivotal Ventures, which she founded in 2015.
The organisation's aim is to "advance social progress by removing barriers that hold people back."
She said that she is determined to ensure that "women's rights are not only on the agenda, but that women are setting the agenda" – especially after watching women's rights be rolled back internationally over the last few years."
"What I saw, part of why our women's rights got rolled back in the United States is that those organisations were starved for funding, and they were playing defense," she explained.
Melinda has pledged to donate $1 billion to this end over the next two years.
Image: Julien De Rosa/EPA/ Shutterstock Editorial