BILL AND MELINDA GATES DIVORCE: WHAT HAS MICROSOFT GOT TO DO WITH IT?

ICHEOKU says what Microsoft joined together Microsoft apparently have pulled asunder, albeit technically; case closed. They met at Microsoft and they parted ways while still Microsoft made uber billionaires and philanthropists extraordinaire with net worth in excess of $120 billion. At least there will no need or fight for spousal support for either other as each person will make out like bandit following their marital property distribution. Like the other billionaire Amazon's Jeff Bezos and his former wife MacKenzie Scott with a net worth of over $130 billion, who similarly parted way in January 2019 after 25 years together and raising four children, Bill and Melinda Gates are parting ways after 27 years together and raising three children together. Both former couples similarly met and married at their various work places. While Jeff was 54 and MacKenzie was 48 when they divorced, Bill is 65 and Melinda is 56 as they called it quits. Who knows if it is now an open season for divorce for tech billionaires?

But why call it quits at this late stage, now that they are in their sunset years following retirement, at 65 years and 56 years respectively and after navigating life together for so long, more than a quarter of a century. What was it that they have endured for all these years which they can no longer manage to live with going forward or was it an entirely new shocking development that shockingly violated their trust and confidence in each other. Could one of them have found a new love just like Jeff Bezos and wanted out in order to go be with their new heart's delight? Did one of them cheat and was caught or they simply grew apart and cannot continue to live together as a couple. 

But whatever it was, they are not presently saying and are currently shielding the real reason for their divorce in a well crafted legalese: "We no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in the next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life."  What led to the sudden "disbelief" in their togetherness and what "next phase" of their lives are they talking about really? At old age when they should be reminiscing their lives together and enjoying things which every long married couple normally enjoy in retirement, they are looking forward to the "next phase" of their lives and ICHEOKU says doing what really? ICHEOKU says it will be good when eventually the trigger is revealed as the couple represented something bigger and huger than both of them and to just throw it all away at this stage is not encouraging. 

ICHEOKU says is not making a case that married couple should remain together in perpetuity no matter what; or that they should never ever divorce, afterall it is still legal. But that Bill and Melinda Gates have somewhat become iconoclastic couple who are role models to millions of people. For them to divorce now only helps propagate the pardon of those school of thought who maintain that marriage is hellish as they will now have another failed marriage to point at as another example of the impossibility of staying together of two previously strangers. As always, there are always exceptions to every rule just like with every other thing else and after 27 years of being together, "held in whatever marital yoke", one would expect that their worse fears are since behind them and that they have learnt how to successfully manage the challenges of two people being forced by society to stay together as one through matrimony. 

But what eventually triggered them, leading up to this development must have been one helluva big intolerable problem. However, ICHEOKU have always wondered how Melinda was able to successfully put up with Bill's weirdness all these years of their being together and yes, that fella Bill do look creepy. Even the way he darts his eyes, twitches and make body movements when making statements are sometimes very eerie. Then add his fanatic campaign for vaccines and vaccinations, especially since the Chinese coronavirus pandemic stuck the world. He appears to have the firm believe that there is vaccination for everything and that people can literally vaccinate themselves out of any problem; begging the question, why did he not inoculate his marriage from the virus of divorce which has now claimed it. 

ICHEOKU wishes the now erstwhile couple all the best, admitted ICHEOKU would rather they had toughened out whatever issue it was and remained together, even if it meant just faking it. It is one thing ICHEOKU appreciates about Queen Crooked Hillary Clinton, her powering on in her marriage with Bill Clinton despite the challenges of Monica Lewinsky scandal. Whether what she has with Bill can be called marriage in the strict sense of it, at least they did not divorce and are still together in the eyes of the watching world. That is the only thing that counts and which Bill and Melinda should have done, put up a facade and stay apart and in some case, don't even have to see themselves. ICHEOKU says the lockdown possibly forced the issue as with so many other couples who were compelled to see each other 24/7 and then discovering how much they loathe each other and cannot tolerate one another. But hey, stuff happens and Bill and Melinda Gates parting ways has just happened. Life goes on. 

In their public announcement disclosing their divorce, Bill and Melinda issued this statement: "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives, We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in the next phase of our lives."