Bill and Melinda Gates, one of the world’s richest couples with a fortune of $130billion, are getting divorced after 27 years of marriage and three children.
He was born 28 October 1955 at 10pm in Seattle, WA and has an intense and private 4th house Scorpio Sun and a cool though obsessive Venus Saturn in Scorpio; with his pro-active Aries Moon on his Midheaven opposition a 4th house Mars which wouldn’t make for an altogether peaceful home life. He has an inventive, innovative, not-always-cooperative Uranus in his 1st square his Sun Neptune; and a super-confident and successful 2nd house financial Jupiter Pluto in Leo square a determined and obsessive Saturn in Scorpio conjunct Venus.
She was born 15 August 1964, no time unfortunately, and has a Leo Sun conjunct his Jupiter Pluto; her enthusiastic Venus Mars in Cancer squaring his Moon opposition Mars; and her Moon may be conjunct his Saturn if she was an early morning birth. She has said he finds the work/home balance difficult to manage – which is partly to do with his 4th house Saturn.
Their relationship chart has major pluses and minuses – a half Grand Sextile of composite Jupiter opposition Saturn sextile/trine Pluto Venus and Neptune. It would have highs and lows and be built to last though clearly not for ever. There is also a volatile, no-compromise composite Uranus Mars conjunction so they would go through heated patches.
Divorce announcements always come at the end of sometimes years of stress or hidden separations. Bill Gates’ Sun/Moon midpoint, his marriage significator, at 21 degrees Capricorn has had the tr Uranus square tr Pluto hammering at it since 2016 and more so since 2018 so it’s been a long period of inner turmoil. At the moment he has tr Saturn moving through his 7th house since late last year which is often a separation marker and more so tr Pluto now on his Descendant about to move through his 7th.
Melinda’s Sun/Moon and houses aren’t known without a birth time but she may have been going through an equally stressed phase through the last few years. At the moment she looks both energised with tr Pluto trine her Jupiter this year and undermined with a panicky Solar Arc Neptune opposition her Mars and her Progressed Mars square her Neptune; plus an anxious Neptune transit to her Mars/Pluto midpoint.
Although the court papers evidently claim the marriage is ‘irretrievably broken’ that may just be a divorce lawyer phrase to indicate that the decision has been taken.
It is being reported here (in a reputable financial newspaper) that ‘Melinda Gates had already hinted at divorce in 2019 because of Bill’s association with Epstein”. Bill maintains that their contact was purely in connection the charity but one has to wonder if Ghislain Maxwell’s list of former clients (her bargaining chip) has anything to do with it. Pure speculation, of course. But the timing does seem curious.
Yes, I read that too and thought the timing was interesting.
@SuHu, Melinda Gates’ PR team has been busy. “WSJ” broke a story on Bill being forced out if Microsoft board because of an affair with a staffer. Apparently, he had tried this with other staffers as well. “Daily Beast” broke a story of Bill Gates visiting Epstein far more frequently than thought. They were not just “associates”, it resembled a friendship.
It seems Melinda was ready to walk out for years, but waited until their youngest was 18, because of the mess she knew would come out.
‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’ it is said. The last 20 years of their marriage must have been horrible. But if I had found my intended using a whiteboard to weigh up the pros and cons of marriage, it might have given me pause to consider whether this man was really committed or not. But I suppose becoming Mrs Gates also had its perks. So I am sure there were questionable motives on both sides. It also makes me wonder if Gates is actually capable of making his own decisions or if he is just one of those people who is fairly easily led, particularly when temptation is thrust into his path by a so-called ‘pal’. That’s no excuse for disloyalty, of course. But it is sad that what had once been a private matter is now becoming a public one.
Easy to detect the separation between them by looking at pics of their body language. Bill is noticeably uncomfortable (hands in pockets) while her body language is open and her hands are “out and gesturing”.
Sounds like Margorie’s on to something. The divorce was likely a long time a-coming as reflected by the astrology. That Saturn transiting the 7th – hmm! Who knows maybe they’ve spent the past few years sorting things out between them. Good luck to them both.
A big plus in looking at people/things through an astrological lens, is in avoiding the latest ‘pop’ psychological terms like ‘on spectrum’. When those labels are thrown around willy-nilly, they become meaningless. My career was in mental health/psychiatry and these ‘pop’ terms seem dismissive of the real issues people deal with. Sorry to be grumpy and pompous!
@Wendy, huh? I don’t know if you worked with Asperger/Autistic people, since they have a neurological, not a psychiatric issue, but this is a term neurologists and “neurodivergent” people themselves, and has nothing to do with “pop psychology”. It simply describes the fact neurodiversity is a spectrum concept, and thus struggles neurodivergent people encounter are different.
My experience comes from working with with some of the “high functioning”, and yes, diagnosed by an actual neurologist, co-workers “on spectrum” in a safe environment, where their professional contribution is valued. They have been very frank about their issues and challenges it brings, especially since it has been my job to guarantee they won’t get distracted by certain environmental factors (the same goes, BTW, with ADHD/ADD, although this is manageable by medicines) they find distracting because of their sensoral sensitivities.
And BTW, my point was exactly to say being “on spectrum” does not make anyone a douche bag. It might, however, explain some behavior on work environment for “high achieving”, talented Asperger individuals. Take Elon Musk, who is, like Bill Gates, known as a horrible boss, leading a company with a work culture most of us “neurotypicals” find extremely hostile and stressful, and who came out with his diagnosis last week.
Yes Solaia I have worked with high functioning, low functioning and in between people with diagnoses of Autism or Aspergers Syndrome. The first i remember was in about 1965. Yes people do use these terms about themselves but I guess would not do so if it was not an ‘in’ description to use. Whatever labels people acquire, the main thing is how their lives are working and to be honest I’ve often found that looking at an astrological chart can give just as much help as a medical diagnosis, even though that is what I was trained in.
One interesting sidelight on this story is the use of a charity. The way it works is that if you have a company and are wealthy you start up a charity, put your shares into it but then arrange to control the charity being its chairman etc. In this way, you control your company at a distance- you can influence the key decisions and distance oneself from the duff ones. At the same time you can go around the world to cheering crowds and getting honours and so forth.
Looking at the birth charts there is a real connection between these two but one suspects that the charity drive comes from Melinda whilst workaholic stuff from Bill. Two very intense charts though and the energy in both charts eventually drove them apart even though it initially brought them together.
My sense is that, at least philanthropically, Melinda was the driving force. Bill was ruthless business-wise, and only started giving away money after widespread criticism – and has since seen the light.
Personally, I will always be thankful for Microsoft having given me my first real job offer, a stepping stone to another I preferred so I could stay in Boston. (Supposedly Bill gave interviews on campus at the time, but in truth I had no idea whether he was one of my interviewers – there were just a bunch of guys. His fame was still limited to computer scientists at the time)
I was told that, tho the salary was low, you got a lot of stock options (not something I cared about at the time, nor since, to my financial detriment). After being given the royal treatment during a visit/interview, at a time when Seattle was still a sleepy town, I decided – correctly as it turned out – that working there would have meant the end of my work-life balance; clearly Bill set the tone for the entire company, and possibly his own marriage. Not long afterwards, former classmates asked me if I regretted not becoming one of the many millionaire employees (thanks to those stock options) – I certainly wish I had the riches, but had no regrets for the rest: I would either have quit, or become rich and continued slaving away at the office because I loved the job (which was indeed what happened to another classmate). Instead I traveled the world and went to live in France. You lead the life your true self is most suited for. Perhaps that is also Melinda’s decision.
Low pay – yes, I would concur. In 1988 I worked thru an agency for $25/hr. The going rate was under $18/hr. At the six month point, I was made an offer to come aboard full-time but my salary would be significantly reduced, to the point I could no longer make mortgage payments. “Well we can offer stock options”…but they never gave an equitable answer to losing my house. I declined. Sleeping in my own bed was preferred to sleeping under the desk in a sleeping bag. Where would I put the cats?
I also kicked myself years later for not taking them on the low pay + stock options. When the millionaires cashed in, Seattle suddenly was no longer sleepy and affordable. That, in conjunction with the massive exodus from California to Seattle, caused home prices to triple in one year.
Where in France are you living? The novelty and attraction to working freelance fueled my freedom from a felt-lined cube, zombie managers in wrinkled suits and 8-to-5 clockwork.
From the BBC “https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56984733”
Melinda said she found Bill writing a list on a whiteboard with the “pros and the cons of getting married”.
I had read pcs from the book “Hard Drive”; Mr. Gates was not an easy personality to work with. I worked at Microsoft in 1988 as a contractor. Many odd personalities mixed together but some very very splendid and talented personalities.
There has been a lot of speculation on Bill Gates being “on spectrum”. In my opinion, this is not at all uncommon in IT and engineering, either, if you know for what to look at. Many people tend to associate being on spectrum to being unemotional, while I’ve actually found many of the spectrum people are incredibly compassionate and feel deeply on humanitarian and/or nature causea. And yes, they can be hard to be around and work with, because they almost always have neurological sensibilities. This is actually how I’ve come to spot many, they can get incredibly irritated by sounds, bright lights (this is a sensitivity I have) or even work chair that’s itchy material. Arguably, this is also something ADHD and ADD people, as well as people without diagnosis, have. But when this is combined to being somewhat literal or missing obvious expressions. I tend to notice this, because I’m – believe or not – very expressive and have the worst poker face and body in the World. People on spectrum can’t pick this, but it’s somehow incredibly refreshing.
I think you are right about Gates being “on spectrum”.
Part of the reason Microsoft got done for anti-trust issues in the 1990s is because Gates simply didn’t bother to lobby and donate to Washington, so he was vulnerable when they came after his company.
Google and Facebook have arguably breached anti-trust laws in a more profound way because they’re not just monopolies but they both manipulate public opinion in a way Microsoft never did. But both are exceptionally well-connected with politicians amongst both the Dems and Republicans and are therefore “untouchable”.
Why did Gates simply not understand that a huge company like Microsoft needed to lobby? Because as you say, he’s “on spectrum” and didn’t understand the human elements wanting to take him down. (His successors at Microsoft have sought to remedy things by getting into the lobbying business in a low key way).
I feel sorry for him. I get the feeling he thought everything was fine and was blindsided by Melinda leaving.
I had to look up “on spectrum” as I’ve never encountered that before.
Mars conjunct Venus in the 12th for Melinda suggests to me that she is becoming true to her own sexuality. They waited until the last child turned 18 to make this life transition.
But there is no confirmed birth time so how sure is Mars/Venus in 12th? Also what does ‘becoming true to her own sexuality’ mean?