Melinda French Gates Had an Unexpected Reaction to Gaining 79 Pounds During First Pregnancy

Melinda French Gates is taking a look back at her marriage with Bill Gates, including the “freedom” she felt when she learned she was pregnant with her first child. Ahead of the April 15 release of her book The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward, French Gates opened up about her unexpected reaction to gaining 79 pounds during her first pregnancy.

The philanthropist, who shares three kids with the Microsoft co-founder, revealed that she experienced a mindset shift when she learned that she was expecting her eldest daughter Jennifer, now 28. Per People, French Gates noted in her book that she put on more weight during the pregnancy than what’s recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, but she found the experience freeing.

“To me, that weight was the external projection of something I began feeling the very second I saw the plus sign on the pregnancy test: freedom,” she wrote about the 79-pound weight gain.

While her doctor wasn’t supportive initially, French Gates says she “quite forcefully” stood her ground once they’d noted that the additional weight wasn’t risking her or her baby’s health. The author remembers telling him she “didn’t want to hear a single additional word” about her weight.

Part of that freedom was taking a step back from her job at Microsoft and embracing her new role as a mom. “At the time, I was totally focused on being the kind of mother I wanted to be,” she told People, noting that in raising children, she’d gained some new skills for when she decided to return to the workforce.

French Gates has previously opened up about raising her kids to be grounded by trying to give them a similar childhood to what she had, complete with an allowance and savings.

“I think it was much more of an upbringing like I grew up in: a very middle-class household where money did dictate whether I got an extra pair of shoes that year or not, right? And I thought that was a good principle to have,” she previously told The New York Times in a 2024 interview.

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