Bill Gates' affairs were an open secret and someone in Melinda's inner circle hired a private investigator before she filed for divorce, report says

Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates.

Frederic Stevens/Getty

• Vanity Fair has published new details on the Gateses' marriage.
• The report said Bill Gates had affairs that were an open secret to those around him.
• Someone close to Melinda French Gates also worked with a private investigator, the report said.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Since Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates announced they were divorcing last month, multiple reports have called into question the billionaire Microsoft founder's reputation as a nerdy do-gooder, with allegations that he engaged in inappropriate workplace relationships.

A new report from Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman, Nick Bilton, and Emily Jane Fox, published Monday, suggested that Bill Gates affairs were known to people around him. People close to Gates told the magazine that his affairs weren't a secret to those around him.

Two sources also told Vanity Fair that someone in French Gates' inner circle had worked with a private investigator leading up to the divorce.

A spokesperson for French Gates told Vanity Fair: "Neither Melinda nor anyone at her direction ever hired a private investigator."

Insider has contacted representatives of Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates for comment.

One former employee told Vanity Fair that there were signs of Bill's possible cheating in the way he swapped cars at the office.

The source told the magazine that sometimes Gates would drive a Mercedes into work, only to drive off an hour later in a golden brown Porsche brought by his security personnel.

"We all assumed that it was when he was with women," the employee told Vanity Fair. "I knew there were many offsite meetings that were not on his calendar."

However, another source close to Gates told the magazine that it was unlikely him to disappear from the office, saying he was "one of the most intensely scheduled people on the planet."

The Vanity Fair report on Gates' behavior is one of many that have emerged since the divorce filing.

On May 16, two weeks after the Gateses announced their divorce, The New York Times reported that Gates pursued women at Microsoft while he was married.

The Wall Street Journal later reported that Microsoft's board opened an investigation into Bill in 2019, following a staffer's claim that she had an affair with him.

Bill stepped down from the board in 2020, but his spokesperson said it had nothing to do with the inquiry.

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