Melinda French Gates opens up about how it feels to be a billionaire

Melinda French Gates told Vanity Fair that her wealth feels “surreal” and that it gives her a great responsibility.

For Melinda French Gates, her immense wealth comes with a great responsibility, but it’s not one that bogs her down.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the philanthropist said her wealth feels “surreal” and that it comes with a “great responsibility,”

“But it doesn’t feel like a weight,” French Gates, 60, added. Instead, she said the “weighty part” is watching struggling mothers support their children and figuring out how she can put philanthropic dollars or government resources to work to help them.

French Gates’s net worth is estimated to be $11 billion, according to Forbes. Bloomberg Billionaires Index clocks her net worth at around $13.5 billion.

French Gates has spent more than 20 years in philanthropy since the launch of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was established with her ex-husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, in 2000.

One of the foundation’s main priorities is global health, pouring billions of dollars into vaccine development and combating infectious diseases. The organization reported a $75.2 billion endowment as of December 2023 on its website.

French Gates stepped down from her cochair role at the foundation in June, three years after her divorce from Gates.

In a statement on X from May, French Gates said the terms of her resignation came with an additional $12.5 billion for her charitable work at the foundation. She said she planned to use the money “to commit to my work on behalf of women and families.”

French Gates also received about $6 billion worth of stock during the early days of her divorce from Gates, Bloomberg reported.

French Gates also started an independent philanthropic venture in 2015 with Pivotal Ventures, an LLC focused on issues impacting women and families.

“I wanted to be able to use every tool in my toolbox,” French Gates told Vanity Fair. “Some philanthropic dollars, investment dollars — and to be able to speak about policy. The LLC gives me a lot of flexibility to do that.”

The philanthropist has long been vocal about the onus of billionaires to give away their wealth.

“If you are lucky enough to be a billionaire, believe me, you can give away half of it and not change your life,” French Gates told Gayle King on CBS Mornings in 2022. “We should have a society where if for whatever reason wealth is in your hands, you put it back in society so that you change and you lift up others.”

French Gates also told Vanity Fair that some of her personal wealth goes into political campaigns.

She told the magazine that her donations to the Harris-Walz campaign were “substantial” and that she has plans to host an event for the candidates.

A spokesperson for Pivotal Ventures did not immediately respond to a request for comment.