A translator who works for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has denied wild rumors on social media that she was involved in their divorce.
Zhe “Shelly” Wang, who has worked as an interpreter for the foundation since March 2015, took to social media to deny speculation that she had more than a professional relationship with Bill or Melinda.
Wang, 36, purportedly wrote on Chinese social media site Weibo, “I thought that the rumors would go away by themselves, but I did not expect the rumors to become more and more crazily spread.”
She continued, “How many books can I read, so why spend time on the unfounded rumors?
“I would like to thank everyone for their concern and help in dispelling the rumors through private messages in the past 24 hours.”
She ended her message with a link to a story titled “#Gates divorce, some vicious people rumor to vilify an innocent Chinese girl.”
According to her LinkedIn profile, which has since been disabled, Wang received a master’s degree in translation and interpretation from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in 2013.
She then joined TED Conferences as an interpreter in April 2013, and she oversaw a team interpreting TED events into Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Spanish.
She also works as an interpreter for the Yale School of Management and Harvard Business School.
Little is known about the reason for the breakdown of Bill and Melinda’s marriage, but they did say in a joint statement on Monday, “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives.”
They continued, “We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”
But it has emerged that Bill, 65, and Melinda, 56, did have a bonkers pact that allowed Bill to vacation every year with his ex-girlfriend at a cozy beach cottage in North Carolina.
The billionaire Microsoft founder made sure the bizarre arrangement was part of the deal when he married Melinda in 1994, he told Time magazine in a 1997 profile.
“We can play putt-putt while discussing biotechnology,” Gates said of his private getaways with fellow nerd techie and ex Ann Winblad — who is now happily married to actor Kevin Kline’s detective brother, Alex Kline, a source told The Post.
Gates even sought Winblad’s approval before proposing to his wife.
“When I was off on my own thinking about marrying Melinda, I called Ann and asked for her approval,” he said, adding that Winblad gave the other woman the thumbs-up.
A divorce suit was filed Monday by Melinda, saying she and Bill — who married in Hawaii on New Year’s Day 1994 — don’t have a prenuptial agreement to distribute their estimated $130 billion in assets.
Being the fourth-richest person in the world gives Bill a lot of purchasing power — and he’s used it to amass an enviable collection of real estate, stocks, sports cars, rare books and artwork.
Bill and Melinda signed a separation contract for dividing their property and possessions, the terms of which weren’t disclosed in the King County Superior Court papers in Washington.
Reps for Bill and Melinda Gates did not respond to requests for comment from Page Six. Wang could not immediately be reached.