As Bill and Melinda Gates' decision to divorce continues to be the talk of Silicon Valley,
many have wondered how their three children are handling the news. Their children, Jennifer,
25, Rory, 21, and Phoebe, 18, have not publicly commented on the split. Their low-key lifestyles
have drummed up a lot of curiosity about the Gates kids.
As the only son of the famous couple, Rory finds himself in a unique position. At 21-years-old,
he's led a quiet and reserved life, despite undeniably sharing some of his dad's features.
Like his famous parents, Rory values his privacy. His social media profiles are private, allowing
him to navigate the world as normally as you can when you're the founder of Microsoft's
son. Mom Melinda French Gates wrote in an Instagram caption celebrating Rory's birthday
in 2017,
"When my son Rory was born, I spent a lot of time imagining what this little person
would be like and who he would be as he grew up. Now, as we near his 18th birthday, I have
my answer. Rory is compassionate and curious."
Rory John Gates was born on May 23, 1999. He grew up at the family's estate in Medina,
Washington, which Bill Gates refers to as Xanadu 2.0, after the fictional mansion of
the protagonist in "Citizen Kane".
All of Bill's kids went to his alma mater, The Lakeside School. He wanted to share his
educational experience there with his kids. He said at a speech at the school in 2015,
according to The Gates Foundation,
"Lakeside was one of the best things that ever happened to me. The experience and insight
Paul Allen and I gained here gave us the confidence to start a company based on this wild idea
that nobody else agreed with — that computer chips were going to become so powerful that
computers and software would become a tool that would be on every desk and in every home.
If there had been no Lakeside, there would have been no Microsoft."
Rory's moves after graduating the school were kept quiet to protect his privacy, but it
wouldn't be long until he was spotted at the University of Chicago, where he's believed
to be currently attending. In 2018, the school shared a photo of him along with the school's
Moot Court team, leading many to believe Rory's pursuing a law degree.
One of Melinda Gates' proudest moments with Rory was watching him grow up respecting women
and their place in the world. She reflected on this in a 2017 essay for Time, sharing,
"Across 18 years of conversations, sharp observations and everyday actions, he's demonstrated his
belief that gender equality is something worth standing up for. When we talk about these
issues at the dinner table, he (and his friends!) have a lot to say."
Melinda also told a story of a time Rory accompanied her to East Africa. While there, the two talked
to some local men who were looking to change the ideas around gender norms by splitting
domestic work with their wives. Melinda was impressed, but Rory wasn't. She wrote,
"I thought that, in many ways, what these men were doing was extraordinary. Rory respectfully
disagreed. He told me he thinks that standing up to unfair norms is nothing more than exactly
what men everywhere should be doing. Yes, he recognizes that the more entrenched the
norms, the more courage it takes to confront them. But he also believes that it's a universal
responsibility and one that he's already striving to uphold in his own life."
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