Melinda French Gates Says It Took 3 Doctors to Diagnose Her Perimenopause, Symptoms May Hold Women Back

Melinda French Gates is getting candid about a health chapter many women face — and admits even she wasn’t prepared for how hard it was to get proper care.

French Gates opened up about her experience with perimenopause during a conversation with Norah O’Donnell for Healthful, a CBS News podcast premiering Wednesday, July 22. Hosted by O’Donnell, Healthful is a podcast dedicated to women’s health, featuring conversations with leading doctors, researchers and innovators tackling topics including reproductive health, menopause, cancer and more.

During the episode, French Gates, 61, said she began experiencing symptoms of perimenopause — the period leading up to menopause marked by irregular periods, hot flashes and bone loss — in her early 40s.

“I kind of couldn’t believe it because I had just finished having my last child in my late thirties,” she said. “And I thought, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ”

She told O’Donnell, 52, that even though she “knew what to watch for,” finding the right medical help proved difficult.

“It was kind of unbelievable to me that, even in this, you know, unbelievably privileged situation I’m in, where I feel like I can get some of the best health care, it took me three doctors to really diagnose what I was going through and to get the right treatments for where I was,” she said.

French Gates clarified the delay “wasn’t because anybody was doing the wrong thing,” but rather a systemic gap in medical training.

“It’s because of what I now know, which is only a third, one third, of OB-GYNs in this country are trained in menopause,” she said on the podcast.

When O’Donnell asked whether symptoms tied to menopause could be holding women back from senior leadership roles, French Gates agreed it was possible.

“It could be one of the things holding women back,” said French Gates. “We know that one in ten women step back from the workforce during their years of perimenopause or menopause because of severe symptoms that they’re experiencing.”

French Gates was previously married to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Following their 2021 divorce and her 2024 departure from the Gates Foundation, she received $12.5 billion to continue her independent philanthropic work focused on women and families, Forbes reported. Through her organization Pivotal, French Gates has pledged $2 billion since 2019 to improve women’s health, economic opportunity and gender equality.