Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has spilled the beans about his relationship with “serious" girlfriend Paula Hurd, saying that he is happy to have her and is having fun.
While appearing on “TODAY" show on February 4, Gates said, “I’m lucky to have a serious girlfriend named Paula," he said. “So we’re having fun, going to the Olympics and lots of great things," Gates said.
Gates, 69, left a special shoutout for Hurd in the acknowledgements of his memoir, “Source Code," which published on February 4.
“Early readers of the manuscript included Paula Hurd, Marc St. John, and Sheila Gulati. The close read from dear and trusted friends provided much-needed thoughtful and insightful feedback at critical stages in the writing," he wrote.
News of the couple’s pairing began circulating in 2023, around four years after the death of Hurd’s husband, former Oracle CEO Mark Hurd, and two years after Gates’ marriage to ex-wife Melinda French Gates ended
The couple were spotted together a handful of times in 2022, and in early 2023, they made their romance official. Last April, they even made their red carpet debut at the 10th Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
When asked about his comment in a recent interview with The Times, where he confessed his divorce from Melinda, 60, was his one big “regret," he said: “My business career, although there’s been some ups and downs, has been phenomenal. My kids are phenomenal."
“It’s even hard for me to complain about things," he continued. “I’ve moved past the divorce, Melinda’s doing well, I’ve got a lot of work that I love to do. So, I’m not really complaining about anything."
Gates and French Gates announced in 2021 that they were separating after 27 years of marriage.
Gates and French Gates share three children: son Rory, 25, daughter Phoebe, 22, and daughter Jennifer, 28, as well as two grandchildren, Jennifer’s daughters Leila and Mia.
Hurd was married to Mark Hurd, the CEO of software company Oracle and the onetime boss of Hewlett-Packard, for nearly 30 years, until his death in October 2019.
She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1984, per her bio on Baylor University’s website.
Paula had much exposure to the inner workings of software companies. She had a career spanning several decades in the sales and alliance management sector in National Cash Register (NCR), a prominent name in the tech industry.
Source: India Today