Melinda French Gates became visibly emotional while recalling her first and only meeting with Jeffrey Epstein, saying she immediately sensed the disgraced financier was “evil.”
The billionaire philanthropist appeared to fight back tears during an interview with The Guardian when asked what had so disturbed her about the encounter.
French Gates, who has previously said meeting Epstein left her with nightmares, grew visibly shaken as she reflected on the experience.
“My heart is racing,” she told interviewer Sophie McBain, placing a hand over her chest.
“Have you ever in your life been around somebody that you just know is evil?”
When asked whether she was reliving the gut reaction she felt upon first meeting Epstein, French Gates initially tried to shut down the discussion.
“I’m done. I can’t do any more questions,” she said before eventually continuing.
“Yes. Any woman who has ever been around somebody who is evil or had an experience and then if you’re around somebody else who is evil. Just no, no.”
McBain wrote that French Gates appeared close to tears during the exchange and struggled to maintain her composure. French Gates described her response as a “visceral reaction.”
The comments come years after French Gates publicly criticized her ex-husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, for maintaining ties with Epstein despite her objections.
French Gates has previously said her ex-husband’s association with the disgraced financier was among the factors that contributed to the end of their 27-year marriage.
Earlier this year, Gates acknowledged that French Gates had been wary of Epstein, telling foundation staff she was “always kind of skeptical about the Epstein thing.”
French Gates previously revealed that she met Epstein once because she wanted to see for herself who he was.
“I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door,” she told CBS News in 2022.
“He was abhorrent. He was evil personified.”
The relationship between Bill Gates and Epstein became a source of controversy after the financier’s 2019 arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell later that year while awaiting trial.
French Gates told The Guardian that she remains frustrated by the failures that allowed Epstein to evade accountability for so long.
She also expressed sympathy for Epstein’s victims, describing him as a “horrid man” and arguing that survivors deserve both peace and justice.
“The justice system didn’t do its job. It did not do its job. Full stop,” she said.
“This could have been stopped.”
