Melinda French Gates is opening up about the qualities she’s looking for when it comes to dating.
In an interview with TIME that published on June 18, the philanthropist gave readers a look into her dating life, confirming that “of course” she is ready to meet “someone new.”
French Gates, 59, told the publication she wants to meet someone “who’s open to learning and who’s vibrant, and who’s smart, and somebody who challenges me and that I challenge.”
However, when asked if there was someone she was already seeing, French Gates played coy, answering, “Not that I’m ready to talk about.”
French Gates was last linked to Jon Du Pre, a former Fox News correspondent.
They were first romantically linked in November 2022, but a spokesperson for French Gates confirmed to PEOPLE in April that they were “no longer dating.”
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Elsewhere in the interview with TIME, she revealed that she and ex husband Bill Gates secretly separated and had been trading off on living at the family home since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
“I separated first before I made the full decision about a divorce,” she said. “And to be able to do that in private while I’m still trying to take care of the kids, while still making certain decisions about how you’re going to disentangle your life—thank God.”
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They went on to announce they were divorcing after 27 years of marriage in May 2021.
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Though she described divorce, which they finalized in August 2021, as “hard” and painful,” she noted that things have “been wonderful” since putting that behind her.
Recently, the mom of three — who shares daughters Jennifer, 28, and Phoebe, 21, as well as son Rory, 25, with her ex-husband — attended the White House State Dinner with Rory and celebrated daughter Jennifer’s graduation from medical school.
After announcing she was resigning from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she also pledged $1 billion to support women’s rights in the United States.
“What I’m trying to do is make sure that women can step into their full power, that women see their power,” she told TIME. “It’s not something we give them. We have it. We’re born with it.”
