In this episode, we talk to Melinda French Gates. Famous as one half of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – one of the largest philanthropic outfits in the world – Melinda spent more than two decades overseeing the giving-away of more than $US77 billion. Then, in 2021, she and Bill divorced after 27 years of marriage, and Melinda began to chart a new path for her life. That new path is the subject of a feature profile in this week's magazine – "The 'Gigantic Joy' of a Fresh Start" – in which Gates discusses the end of her marriage, the hard-won pleasures of personal growth, and philanthropy in Trump's America. She joins us today to chat about all that and more, with Good Weekend senior writer, Amanda Hooton.

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