Bill and Melinda Gates’ daughter Jennifer has posted a sweet birthday tribute to her mother, calling her a ‘one-of-a-kind mom, woman, and hero’ – just two weeks after the billionaire couple finalized their divorce.
Jennifer, 25, shared two images of herself and her mother in honor of the latter’s 57th birthday on Sunday, posting both a childhood photo, as well as a more recent snap.
Along with the pictures, Jennifer – who is a medical student in New York – also shared a message of support for her mother, who has spent the last three months hammering out a divorce settlement with Bill that will see the former couple splitting their estimated $130 billion fortune.
Bill and Melinda finalized their divorce at the start of the month, three months after they announced that they were splitting after 27 years of marriage – and amid ongoing allegations that the Microsoft founder sexually harassed employees at the computer company.
Tribute: Bill and Melinda Gates’ daughter Jennifer posted a touching birthday tribute to her mother on Sunday, calling her a ‘one-of-a-kind mom, woman, and hero’
Throwback: The 25-year-old medical student posted two images of herself with her mother in honor of Melinda’s 57th birthday, which came two weeks after her divorce from Bill
Message: Jennifer wished her mother ‘the most incredible year ahead’ in her tributes, which come in the wake of allegations that her father sexually harassed Microsoft employees
Jennifer, who got engaged to fellow equestrian Nayel Nassar just a few months before her parents announced their split, is the eldest of Bill and Melinda’s three children and is the sibling with the biggest public profile, thanks, in part, to her success on the international horse circuit – as well as her social media account.
She is the only one of Bill and Melinda’s children to publicly address their divorce and the impact that it has had on the three siblings, writing on her Instagram Story shortly after their announcement that it had been ‘a challenging stretch of time for the whole family’.
‘I’m still learning how to best support my own process and emotions as well as family members at this time, and am grateful for the space to do so,’ she wrote at the time.
‘I won’t personally comment further on anything around the separation, but please know that your kind words and support mean the world to me.’
The couple’s son Rory John Gates, 22, is notoriously private and does not have any public social media accounts, while the youngest sibling, Phoebe Adele Gates, 18, is an aspiring ballerina who attended The School of American Ballet and Juilliard in New York City.
Bill has previously said that he will leave each of his three children with $10 million each – a relatively paltry amount when compared to his enormous fortune – although it is unclear whether this plan will now change in the wake of the couple’s split.
The billionaire Microsoft founder, 65, and his wife shocked the world when they took to Twitter to break the news of their divorce back on May 4.
They tweeted that they ‘no longer believe we can grow together as a couple’ but they will still continue to work together at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Family: Bill and Melinda (pictured with their three children) did not have a prenup, and are said to be splitting their $130 billion fortune as part of their divorce settlement
Three months later a judge of the Superior Court of the State of Washington for King County signed off on the divorce on Monday.
There was no prenup and the couple instead divided their assets based on a separation contract with undisclosed terms.
The settlement between Bill, whose net worth is estimated at more than $130billion, and his ex could leave Melinda with over $65billion, TMZ reported. Melinda has also indicated that she will keep Gates as her last name.
In the wake of the divorce announcement Bill has been accused of ‘womanizing’ and sexually harassing colleagues during his time at Microsoft.
The couple’s relationship reportedly began to unravel after Melinda read the letter a Microsoft employee wrote in 2019 detailing her billionaire husband’s ‘inappropriate’ sexual relationship with a female staff member.
Two decades after the 2000 affair, Gates was removed from Microsoft’s board of directors as it investigated his prior romantic relationship with an employee, which ‘ended amicably’.
Meanwhile, Melinda did not request to receive spousal support from her now-ex husband but she had already been given $2billion in stocks the day she filed the divorce documents. The next day her estranged husband even added 25 million shares of Mexican Coca-Cola to her portfolio.
Melinda did not request to change her name either and child support does not apply since their three children are all legally adults.
But it has long been known that the Gates children will not be inheriting their parents’ wealth. In 2014 Gates announced at a TED Conference in Canada that most of his fortune will go to the family foundation.