Bill Gates has finally confirmed his new romance with his “serious girlfriend” just weeks after he revealed that his divorce from ex-wife Melinda French Gates was his worst mistake ever.
The former tech power couple tied the knot in 1994, welcomed three kids into the world, and then divorced in May of 2021 after 27 years of marriage.
Since then, 69-year-old Bill has been spotted several times throughout the last few years with 62-year-old Paula Hurd, the widow of former Oracle CEO Mark Hurd.
But it wasn’t until Tuesday, 4th February, when the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft got candid about his love life during an appearance on the American TV programme The Today Show.
“I’m lucky to have a serious girlfriend named Paula,” he said. “So we’re having fun, going to the Olympics, and lots of great things.”
During the appearance, Bill discussed his new memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings—an origin story about his life and the early days of Microsoft—which was published on Tuesday.
The influential business leader also dropped a special shoutout to Hurd in the ending acknowledgements, calling her a “thoughtful friend.”
“Early readers of the manuscript included Paula Hurd, Marc St. John, and Sheila Gulati,” the memoir read.
“The close read from dear and trusted friends provided much-needed thoughtful and insightful feedback at critical stages in writing.”
Bill’s declaration of his newly found love came less than a month after he divulged his shattered relationship with 60-year-old Melinda, calling the unexpected divorce “the mistake I most regret.”
Hurd, who bears a striking resemblance to Melinda, is the widow of former Oracle co-CEO and president Mark Hurd, who died at the age of 62 in 2019 after a reported battle with cancer.
Once a tech executive herself, Hurd is now an event planner and organiser, and philanthropist.
Her late husband, who spent most of his career at tech company NCR and later Hewlett-Packard before joining Oracle in 2010, had an estimated net worth of $500 million at the time of his death.
