WHEN they got married, a simple wedding gift from her parents would become one of her most treasured possessions.
It was a sculpture of two little birds sitting side by side staring at the horizon, and she put it in the front garden of their home so she could see it whenever she came and went.
“Those birds are still in front of our house,” she wrote in 2018 in her and her husband’s annual newsletter. “I think of it all the time because fundamentally Bill and I are looking in the same direction.”
How poignant those words are now – and how bittersweet that sculpture must be. After 27 years of marriage, three kids, billions of dollars and decades of philanthropy, Bill and Melinda Gates are no longer looking in the same direction. And it’s no exaggeration to say their split has left the world gobsmacked.
In a world where high-flying couples get divorced all the time, the Gateses seemed stable and “normal”, a slightly geeky couple who cared more about the greater good of the planet and its people than a life of glitz and glamour.
“It’s not fair that we have so much wealth when billions of others have so little,” Melinda once said.
Since their 1994 wedding they’ve donated at least $40 billion ($580bn) to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which funds IT education in the US and healthcare and poverty initiatives around the world, including large-scale projects to fight HIV and malaria.
When Covid-19 began to ravage the globe, the Gates Foundation was one of the earliest and largest funders of research into a vaccine.
This story is from the 20 May 2021 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the 20 May 2021 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
'I'M BACK!'
ACK!’ Scandal after scandal hits Jacob Zuma, yet nothing ever brings him down. Now he’s plotting his return to parliament and he’s hinted he has his heart set on another term as president
A BRAIN YOU CAN COUNT ON
Meet Aaryan Shukla, the 13-year-old from India whos just been crowned the worlds fastest human calculator
FUN WHILE IT LASTED
It's all over for oddball couple Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher
THE TEEN MACHINE!
Manchester United star Kobbie Mainoo has set the footballing world alight with his dazzling displays
A BETTER LIFE FOR ELIJAH
A rare condition means this little boy can't bend his arms and legs, but his parents are doing everything they can to give him a normal life
A DOCTOR'S JOURNEY
He chose to do one of the toughest jobs in medicine: looking after children who were dying. In this moving extract from his memoir, Cape Town paediatrician Alastair McAlpine reveals how, with wisdom and humour, sick kids taught him crucial lessons that changed his approach to life
'SA WILL ALWAYS BE PART OF ME'
Cindy Nell-Roberts is starting a new lite Down Under with her family. She tells YOU about the chaotic but happy p ansliepent why shes missing home
HOW TO SPOT A NARCISSIST
They often look like the most confident person in the room, but narcissists are insecure and desperate for validation, says a new book
DEFIANT TO THE END
He went from star athlete to Hollywood hero and ended up a reviled criminal but OJ Simpson remained unapologetic
BRING IT ON TAMMY!
Peet and Mel Viljoen arent going to let threats deter them from their fabulous life