Bill Gates has admitted to having extramarital affairs with three women, two of whom were connected to Jeffrey Epstein, during testimony before a U.S. Congress inquiry into the financier. He told the House oversight committee that he had affairs with Mila Antonova, a bridge player, and Karima Nigmatulina, a nuclear physicist, both of whom he met when they were in their 20s and 30s respectively. Gates also admitted to a third affair with Dr. Alice Jacobs Nesselrodt, a medical entrepreneur, which began before 2010. The tech billionaire stated he informed his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, about the affairs in spring 2013. "You would have to ask her, but I imagine that they were, yes," Gates responded when asked if the affairs were relevant to her decision to divorce him in 2021.
Gates testified that Epstein later discovered the affairs with the Russian women and suggested the financier had "contemplated blackmailing me." While Gates stated he was not blackmailed, he acknowledged that Epstein's communications suggested such intentions. A spokesman for Gates has admitted it was a "mistake" for Gates to meet with Epstein but denied any involvement in illegal activities with the financier. Gates also stated he "may have been in the presence of victims" while meeting Epstein but denied any sexual misconduct.
While testifying under oath, Gates acknowledged other extramarital affairs, none of which he connected to Epstein. He denied claims, made in emails released in the Justice Department's Epstein files, that one of the Russian women had given him a sexually transmitted disease and that he had asked Epstein to help him obtain antibiotics to administer to his wife.
Allegations of Gates's personal conduct have circulated for decades. In a 1997 book, writer James Wallace described Gates frequenting Boston's "Combat Zone" as a student and hosting "wild bachelor parties" at his Seattle home with hired dancers. Another book from 1998, The Microsoft File by Wendy Goldman Rohm, detailed an alleged seven-month affair between Gates and Stefanie Reichel, a Microsoft employee he met in 1992. Reichel reportedly complained about Gates's personal hygiene and sexual performance.
Even after marrying Melinda French in 1994, Gates maintained a close friendship with Ann Winblad, a venture capitalist he had dated from 1984 to 1987. Gates reportedly kept a framed photo of Winblad alongside one of Melinda in his office and insisted on spending a long weekend annually with Winblad alone at her beach cottage, an arrangement Melinda French Gates reportedly agreed to.
In 2021, Melinda French Gates acknowledged in a CBS interview that her husband's relationship with Epstein contributed to their divorce. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 that Gates's affair with Mila Antonova began around 2010 when she was in her 20s. Antonova reportedly met Epstein in 2013 to seek funding for a bridge-teaching website, and Epstein paid for her to attend software coding school, later reportedly asking Gates for reimbursement.
The investigation also highlighted the connection between Gates and Dr. Melanie Walker, a brain surgeon who worked for the Gates Foundation and Gates's private office. Walker was also reportedly close to Epstein, who was her mentor. A Gates spokesman described a consensual affair between Gates and Walker by 2017, claiming Epstein had encouraged her to pursue a relationship with Gates.
In 2024, business writer Anupreeta Das reported that Epstein's "larger-than-life behavior was an adventure for Gates," who reportedly chafed at his own conventional life. Das also claimed Gates was notorious for "clumsy rather than predatory" approaches to young women at Microsoft. A spokesman for Gates criticized Das's book, stating it relied on hearsay and included "highly sensationalized allegations and outright falsehoods."