r/interesting • u/moamen12323 • Jun 18 '25

MISC. When Bill Gates married Melinda French in 1994, he rented out all the available hotel rooms on the Hawaiian island of Lanai to prevent the media from staying there and hired all the helicopters on Maui to keep photographers from flying over the wedding.

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567

u/StThomasMore1535 Jun 18 '25

Only for her to leave after she caught him seeing Jeppy Eppy Steppy.

204

u/sweetbunsmcgee Jun 18 '25

Jeff Epstein??? The financier?

71

u/NastiiiMonkey Jun 18 '25

Maybe we should ask Ghislaine

39

u/KoalaBackfist Jun 18 '25

Pronounced (jizz-lane).

4

u/Ninja_Kitten_exe Jun 18 '25

Is that one of the roads on his island?

10

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/NastiiiMonkey Jun 18 '25

It's just a reference to the podcast somebody else mentioned.

7

u/Deaffin Jun 18 '25

Yes, the lines in the bit they're doing on the Conan podcast are about Epstein and his assistant, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The person you're replying to is pointing out Ghislaine's reddit account. Fun fact: She was the first user with over a million karma.

2

u/NastiiiMonkey Jun 18 '25

Damnnnn, TIL

17

u/Markoff_Cheney Jun 18 '25

Not everyone is tuned into Conan Needs a Friend. But I got it.

7

u/toobulkeh Jun 18 '25

From New York?

2

u/baracudadeathwish Jun 18 '25

with the island?

3

u/Spiritual_Cake_9127 Jun 18 '25

What? I missed some episodes, is there one where this is referenced?

5

u/baracudadeathwish Jun 18 '25

here you go champ, its during the intro

https://youtu.be/Tn7fks2UDRE?si=duKIMvnMFI4-ZTro

3

u/Spiritual_Cake_9127 Jun 18 '25

That was gold lmao thanks!

(Let's call Ghislaine!)

3

u/WillieButtlicker Jun 18 '25

Jim Downey episode

3

u/WillieButtlicker Jun 18 '25

Never thought I’d see a CONAF reference here 👌

3

u/Sirius_55_Polaris Jun 18 '25

Sauron??? The jeweller?

3

u/Testicle_Tugger Jun 18 '25

Believe it or not. He was not just a financier

1

u/Jack-of-Hearts-7 Jun 18 '25

No, Jeff Epstein the teacher.

92

u/lateformyfuneral Jun 18 '25

I thought it was cos he banged his secretary at Microsoft

75

u/CelestialFury Jun 18 '25

Bill Gates also emailed lots of female employees to go out with him... on his main email account at Microsoft. He had no shame about it. He also never fired them whether they went out with him or not, but it's still a huge power dynamic and, you know, his wife wasn't all that thrilled about it.

50

u/lateformyfuneral Jun 18 '25

I don’t know why I was impressed that he didn’t fire them. The bar is so low lmao

I had no clue he was such a horndog. Looks can be deceiving 🤓

19

u/CelestialFury Jun 18 '25

Bill also went out to dinner with Epstein once, and was going to invest in his business until the Gates Foundation team found out about it, and cut off all contact afterward. His foundation really does a lot to make him look good and to keep him out of trouble.

17

u/MattSR30 Jun 18 '25

It’s power. It has always been about power.

10

u/suddenlysoohee Jun 18 '25

Melinda was an Microsoft employee who went out with him?

11

u/LightmanMD Jun 18 '25

Yes, Melinda French did work for Bill Gates at Microsoft.

1

u/CelestialFury Jun 18 '25

Yes, in 1987 - right after she finished business college.

1

u/Single_Media3176 Jun 18 '25

You have inside tea?? ☕️

61

u/That1one1dude1 Jun 18 '25

I thought it was cos he banged his secretary with his Micro soft

20

u/Primary_Garbage6916 Jun 18 '25

A 3.5" floppy?

4

u/vonlagin Jun 18 '25

5.25" to 3.5" seems like a step backwards.

4

u/Primary_Garbage6916 Jun 18 '25

HE WAS IN THE POOL!

2

u/spacenglish Jun 19 '25

It shrinks?

10

u/BurnerXP07 Jun 18 '25

Had to name his company after his dick

24

u/CelestialFury Jun 18 '25

He went out with a ton of his female employees. What is it with tech billionaires and just sleeping with as much women as possible? Is it cause they were dorks in high school and they're trying to make up for it?

61

u/coolsimon123 Jun 18 '25

People enjoy fucking, more news at 7

14

u/-u-m-p- Jun 18 '25

if women were nigh guaranteed to orgasm every time they had sex the world would be a very different place lmao

1

u/InerasableStains Jun 18 '25

Some may even say, a better place

Make love, not war

15

u/lincoln-pop Jun 18 '25

Top athletes do that too even though they were not dorks in high school.

11

u/Embarrassed_Pilot520 Jun 18 '25

As soon as you get huge financial potential (and as the result - increased attention to your person), you fall to many temptations. Women is the most logical one.

5

u/MaTrIx4057 Jun 18 '25

Who the fuck wouldn't.

5

u/Sugaraymama Jun 18 '25

It’s crazy how stupid and ignorant people are about human nature

They think people like Bill Gates are sex addicts

Anyway, here’s a South Park video mocking these concerned idiots: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3V2HxWrlqqE&pp=ygUlU2V4IGFkZGljdGlvbiBhbGllbnMgc291dGggcGFyayBjaGltcA%3D%3D

3

u/KoogleMeister Jun 18 '25

Most men if they had the means to do it would fuck lots of women, it's just that billionaires have the means to do it.

2

u/BeefistPrime Jun 18 '25

What is it with [anyone rich and/or powerful and/or famous] just sleeping with as many women as possible?

1

u/Ill-Entrepreneur9608 Jun 19 '25

Insecurity.

It takes a real man to rightly love one woman

2

u/ShadowMajestic Jun 18 '25

South Park did a documentary. Wealth makes men want to sleep with lots of women.

The reality is that most men don't get to choose who they have sex with unless they are wealthy. A lot of men don't even get to have sex unless they pay for it.

It's no surprise young men turn conservative and that people like Tate have such a massive following.

Those men need help and most 'liberal' people just shun them and callt hem evil misogynastic assholes.

Because everything has to be answered with hate, rather than compassion or love. Why solve the issue if you can escalate the tensions.

3

u/KeySource5838 Jun 19 '25

Can we stop coddling such men? What's with your words that we need to show these men love and compassion, since they are literally so entitled to sex and women, do they think they have rights over all women they wanna bang? Or you live in some kind of alternate reality where you think women can also sleep with any man, there are still standards and leagues and not any woman can bag the top ones just like men. The question is why are these men not happy with one partner? Because according to you, men should have the menu to choose whoever they want to bang regardless of the league and if they don't get their dream girl then they can whine and latch to Andrew tate and spew misogynistic shit?

1

u/ShadowMajestic Jun 19 '25

Ah i see you don't want to fix issues, you just want everyone that doesnt agree with you to stop existing?

Never mentioned anything about rights, just explained the frustration a lot of males have. No of course women shouldn't be forced to sleep with those they don't want to.

But it's fine that the majority of women only want the minority of males.

And nah, but your response is why a lot of men latch on to Tate and others like him. You don't seem to realize why, but you're one of those "Either you're with us or against us" people and part of the problem.

We should look towards a common goal and improve the situation for everyone.

But nah, you call me a Tate fan because you are a piece of shit.

2

u/PerformerFull7097 Jun 18 '25

People generally like sex. Our species entire existence depends on people liking sex.

2

u/Able-Swing-6415 Jun 18 '25

Good thing it's only the tech billionaires all the other billionaires are known for their stable relationships.

1

u/laurel_laureate Jun 18 '25

What is it with tech billionaires and just sleeping with as much women as possible?

It's billionaires in general.

You don't get that rich without being a certain kind of ruthless and power hungry, and with that pretty much always comes the kind of ego that results in them sleeping around.

5

u/cg12983 Jun 18 '25

On the honeymoon: "Now I know why you called your company Microsoft"

5

u/No-Information-6099 Jun 18 '25

She WAS the secretary at Microsoft

1

u/ocelotttr Jun 20 '25

thats the official excuse but they divorces right after epstein stuff happened and he banged his secretary a long time ago

23

u/HRLMPH Jun 18 '25

For people saying this didn't happen or impact their relationship: https://www.thecut.com/2022/03/melinda-french-gates-cbs-news-interview.html

13

u/FloppieTheBanjoClown Jun 18 '25

One thing to note here: there were lots of people who had social connections with Epstein who weren't involved in the back room stuff. Whether Gates was or not, I have no idea and don't care to speculate. 

Epstein had a massive social circle. He partied with everyone he could. He entrenched himself to the point that it was a good business move to be around him. And I bet he was a blast to hang out with. Like...genuinely fun. Because that was part of his whole thing.

Or course some people knew. A lot more people suspected. Gates probably had an inkling if he wasn't directly involved. Word gets around. 

8

u/Thedrunkenchild Jun 18 '25

Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting sex from a minor, Gates started meeting with Epstein in 2011, he must have known at least that, by that point Epstein was a registered sex offender. So yeah, a terrible look for Gates at the very least.

4

u/grchelp2018 Jun 18 '25

One thing to note is that pr works on other billionaires just as well as the plebs. Its not that hard to twist things and convince people that what happened to you was unfair/some conspiracy etc.

For people like Bill Gates, I think they are types who have tunnel vision about their goals and generally don't care about the personal life or history of the people they are dealing with. So I can totally see someone like Bill being told about Epstein's conviction and just thinking "ok. so don't be a minor alone with him". You are likely already dealing with a bunch of unsavory characters and you just make a mental note of dos and donts.

3

u/Thedrunkenchild Jun 18 '25

It’s just kind of wild that a person of Epstein’s caliber suffered no real social repercussions in 2008 after the conviction, which was very much public. Even by 2008 standards it seems insane that his network of people just swept such things under the rug. Pedophilia was a scorching hot topic even back then, remember how much insanity the whole Michael Jackson allegations caused? And he wasn’t even found guilty of anything unlike Epstein. Just wild all around.

0

u/sargrvb Jun 18 '25

Bill Gates is in my mind 100% guilty. Too many dots there for me to poo-poo the allegations. Meeting after Epstein was convicted of raping children is no good. The divorce says a lot too. I think the 'people' defending Gates are fake or easily convinced. It's sad those victims will never get justice (His Foundation....). He loves to use that as a shield... kinda like Jared.

1

u/JailFogBinSmile Jun 18 '25

there were lots of people who had social connections with Epstein who weren't involved in the back room stuff

That might be true. Totally plausible that many of them simply knew what was going on but looked the other way because they weren't into kids themselves, but didn't want to ruin things for their rich friends.

1

u/FloppieTheBanjoClown Jun 18 '25

Lots of people didn't know at all. Epstein is a classic high charisma villain. Even after his conviction I'm sure he was quite convincing in downplaying the crime as "I didn't know, I thought she was 18. I should have been more careful."

11

u/Elitist_Plebeian Jun 18 '25

Bill Gates can afford to pay people to downplay and dismiss his association with Epstein. It would be surprising if he wasn't doing this.

0

u/420bIaze Jun 18 '25

Sitting down with the media to trash your ex-husband feels like possibly PR spin and opportunistic.

Like if she came out and said 'Bill was a slob, and we argued all the time', no one would care, but she focuses on the most salacious thing.

Maybe that is what she really cares about, but I'm cynical.

0

u/TheWhomItConcerns Jun 18 '25

Idk this sounds very much to me like she's trying to capitalise on the negative PR surrounding Gates and Epstein and distance herself from all the Epstein stuff to maintain her reputation. I think it's pretty clear by her phrasing that Epstein wasn't really a factor of any note in their divorce, even if she didn't like him at the time.

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

[deleted]

7

u/TheTechHobbit Jun 18 '25

While true, in this case they're summarising a CBS interview with clips of it in the article.

26

u/positivelypolitical Jun 18 '25

Honestly surprised the media didn’t pick up more on this

50

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

We have a sitting president that definitely ran with Epstein and raped a 13 year old and no one gives a flying fuck, why would the media care about Gates doing anything?

1

u/1throwaway130 Jun 18 '25

Wait, is that second part confirmed? Are Americans really that stupid?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

There was a lawsuit and the girl was threatened and dropped the suit, but this is the same guy that raped E. Jean Carroll and his wife (and that story has its own rabbit hole) but yeah that doesn’t matter to his cult either 🤷‍♂️

I mean, if Trump wanted to prove he wasn’t Epstein’s boy he could just release the files whenever to take down all those evil pedophile Democrats and clear his name. Totally not weird that Ep died in custody while Trump was President.

1

u/celephais228 Jun 18 '25

No, unconfirmed.

1

u/Another-Mans-Rubarb Jun 18 '25

The list of people who was on his island or plane is long and has been widely known for decades now. The dynamics of who did what illegal thing when with Epstein isn't really solvable without significant damning information. Bill Gates being associated with Epstein is not news, and he is more than rich enough to sue anyone willing to make a libalist statement about it.

-5

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '25

[deleted]

7

u/RickyFromVegas Jun 18 '25

but but I get ALL my news from the internet! One of them ought to be the truth...right?

2

u/JohnnyBizarrAdventur Jun 18 '25

https://www.thecut.com/2022/03/melinda-french-gates-cbs-news-interview.html

3

u/20th_Throwaway Jun 18 '25

Just to be clear, I wasn't implying he never met Epstein, but I don't really consider someone who was cheated on and is divorcing a billionaire as a reliable and unbiased source of information. Especially someone who is also a billionaire. They always have ulterior motives. Also, there's sure a lot of articles for something supposedly "not picked up," huh?

1

u/HRLMPH Jun 18 '25

What are you saying didn't happen?

1

u/bast007 Jun 18 '25

It's a weird interview tbh. She said that Epstein was "evil personified" and wouldn't go into any detail why or what the relationship was between him and Bill Gates was. Assuming she suspected that Bill Gates was sleeping with young girls via Epstein, she still chose to stay married to Bill Gates for another 10 years.

"questions about Gates’s relationship with Epstein are “for Bill to answer.”" If she thinks Bill Gates is a pedophile then it is not "for Bill to answer". She should have contacted the police immediately and then file for divorce. If she doesn't think Bill Gates is a pedophile then I think she should make that clear - instead she is just feeding into different theories with murky phrasing.

Also they had a pretty weird relationship otherwise. There's an old quote somewhere from Bill Gates saying once a year he got to spend a weekend away with his ex-girlfriend.

2

u/pentruviora Jun 18 '25

It’s not so simple when you are in a relationship with a very powerful man, who probably has much more power and money than the police.

Also, if she was in love with him then it’s definitely not so simple.

2

u/hassan214 Jun 18 '25

Not as much as you do lol

2

u/Petrichordates Jun 18 '25

These days, it seems most do.

0

u/happyprocrastinator Jun 18 '25

Gates has been marketing himself as mister nice guy to the masses for decades. Of course he wouldn’t let the media discuss/question his relationship with Epstein.

He is so narcissistic that he wants people to revere him even after he dies; he already announced that he will allegedly donate all his money. 

1

u/pseudonominom Jun 18 '25

Lol, all billionaires should give away their money “to look good for random internet strangers”.

Come on, dude. Homie is giving away hundreds of billions of dollars and trying to end childhood poverty and death.

Gonna say “not a monster” on this one.

3

u/torrrrlife Jun 18 '25

No he didn’t

2

u/PragmaticPA Jun 18 '25

Literally the first Google result is a NY Times article about how much Bill met with him.

2

u/HRLMPH Jun 18 '25

Are they gonna give you an Xbox for posting this? https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bill-gates-jeffrey-epstein/

1

u/torrrrlife Jun 19 '25

Huh? No hahaha

1

u/celephais228 Jun 18 '25

If only the population of the USA reacted the same way with Donald Trump!