celebrity Oct. 31, 2024

Who Is Melinda French Gates’s New Boyfriend?

Portrait of Emily Leibert

By Emily Leibert, a morning blogger for the Cut who specializes in coverage at the intersection of gender and sports, the arts, and our relationship to our bodies

Celebrity Sightings In New York City - September 26, 2024

Photo: Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images

After divorcing tech billionaire Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates appears to have some new arm candy. Per “Page Six,” the philanthropist was spotted holding hands with entrepreneur Philip Vaughn on Wednesday as they touched down in New York via helicopter. Later that evening, the pair stepped out for dinner at Le Bernardin in midtown, again holding hands as Melinda braved the city’s cobblestones in pumps. The tabloid is calling this new guy her boyfriend, and if that is the case, I am very happy for her!

We don’t know too much about Vaughn just yet, but I can tell you from staring at photos of him that the man can rock a pair of aviators and he looks pretty good in a tailored suit. According to his LinkedIn profile, Vaughn is the founder and head of product at Tavour, a craft-beer delivery company. Interestingly, his profile also shows that he worked for Microsoft, Bill Gates’s baby, from 1999 to 2008. I have so many questions. Were Bill and Phil buddies? Did Melinda meet Phil at a company holiday party where the booze was flowing? And, most important, is Phil swaggier than Bill?

Three years after a contentious divorce, this is exactly the sort of rich person’s fairy tale I envisioned for Melinda: helicopters and french food with a new-and-improved-founder type. (We’ll just move past the blip when she dated Fox News correspondent Jon Du Pre for two years.) Bill may have gotten to keep their shared foundation in the divorce, but Melinda gets to strut about town giggling with her man. You tell me which is more fun.

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Who Is Melinda French Gates’s New Boyfriend?

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