The billionaire philanthropist had previously spoken about her distaste for the late convicted sex offender and his professional relationship with her ex-husband, Bill Gates, in a 2022 interview with CBS .
French Gates said she met Epstein "exactly one time," and the new book from New York Times correspondent Anupreeta Das offers more details about her experience at his home in 2013. In "Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World, " Das writes that a dinner at Epstein's seven-story mansion in New York City left French Gates feeling "unsettled."
"The entryway and reception area took up two stories. One wall was lined with framed and signed photographs of famous men, including former president Bill Clinton. Female figurines, some of them suggestively dressed, sat by the marble staircase," Das writes about Epstein's former residence near Central Park.
She cites a 2003 Vanity Fair profile of the late financier that described another installation in his house. Epstein reportedly kept rows of framed eyeballs from England that were made for injured soldiers in his entrance hall. Das says French Gates felt uneasy "from the moment she walked in the door."
"I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door. He was abhorrent. He was evil personified," Gates said to CBS in 2022.
Jeffrey Epstein owned multiple properties, including a seven-story New York City mansion (left).
US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York
Around the same time, Das says, Gates was unofficially campaigning for a Nobel Peace Prize for their foundation's work toward eradicating polio. Epstein said he could help the Gates Foundation secure a win.
"French Gates sat uncomfortably throughout the dinner, and later told friends she was furious that her then-husband would not cut off ties with him," the book says.
The former cochair of the Gates Foundation has publicly said as much about her opinion on her ex-husband's ties to Epstein . French Gates told CBS she wasn't happy that the pair were meeting, and she "made that clear" to Gates.
About the new book generally, a Bill Gates spokesperson told Business Insider: "Relying almost exclusively on second- and third-hand hearsay and anonymous sources, the book includes highly sensationalized allegations and outright falsehoods that ignore the actual documented facts our office provided to the author on numerous occasions."
Gates's office didn't respond to BI's request to comment specifically on this story. He has previously said he made "a huge mistake" in meeting with Epstein.
"At the time, I didn't realize that by having those meetings it would be seen as giving him credibility," Gates told the Times in 2022.
He added, "You're almost saying, 'I forgive that type of behavior,' or something. So clearly the way it's seen, I made a huge mistake not understanding that."
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