Melinda French Gates has revealed the chilling encounter with Jeffrey Epstein that left her with nightmares, describing the disgraced financier as 'evil' and admitting the fallout from his association with ex-husband Bill Gates contributed to the collapse of their marriage.

In a candid interview with The Guardian, the billionaire philanthropist opened up about her painful divorce from Microsoft co-founder Bill, her horror after meeting Epstein and her determination to use her vast fortune to transform women's healthcare.

French Gates, 61, became visibly emotional when discussing Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose ties to some of the world's richest and most powerful men continues to cast a shadow years after his death.

Asked what it was about Epstein that disturbed her so deeply when she met him, French Gates struggled to contain her emotions.

'My heart is racing,' she said, according to The Guardian, before asking a striking question of her own.

'Have you ever in your life been around somebody that you just know is evil?'

'There you go. You just have your answer. We need to listen to our feelings about people.'

The reaction was so intense that French Gates briefly attempted to end the conversation before eventually continuing.

Recalling the experience, she later added: 'Yes. Any woman who has ever been around somebody who is evil or had an experience and then if you're around somebody else who is evil. Just no, no.'

When the interviewer asked if she was reliving her original reaction to Epstein, she replied simply: 'Visceral reaction, yes.'

French Gates has spoken previously about her discomfort with Epstein and has publicly acknowledged that her former husband's continued contact with the financier was among the factors that led to the breakdown of their 27-year marriage.

The issue resurfaced earlier this year after newly released Justice Department documents brought renewed scrutiny to Epstein's connections with wealthy and influential figures.

In January, a tranche of Epstein-related emails became public, including messages allegedly drafted by Epstein concerning Bill Gates. Gates has denied the claims contained within them and has previously insisted he did 'nothing illicit.'

French Gates, however, left little doubt about her feelings toward Epstein.

'Well, I had not been silent. I had been asked before what I thought of Epstein, and I had spoken my truth about what I had experienced,' she told The Guardian.

'He was an abhorrent human being, a horrid man, and so in these situations – this is a hard topic for me, you need to know that – my heart goes out to the young girls.'

She added: 'I just spoke the truth, which is they deserve some peace, and they deserve some justice.'

French Gates also delivered a blistering assessment of the institutions that allowed Epstein's crimes to continue for years.

'The justice system didn't do its job. It did not do its job. Full stop,' she said. 

'This could have been stopped.'

She continued: 'I think that's why, finally, we are having a reckoning in society. If we don't want children to be harmed, the justice system has to work.'

While Epstein and the divorce remain among the most painful chapters of her recent life, French Gates said she has entered what she describes as a 'beautiful' new phase.

Five years after her highly publicized split from Bill Gates, she has stepped away from the Gates Foundation, become a grandmother and is focusing her attention on Pivotal, the organization she founded to advance women and families.

The billionaire says she now spends her free time taking walks around Seattle, visiting independent bookstores and enjoying time with her growing family.

But she has no intention of slowing down.

This month, French Gates is committing $215 million in new funding toward women's healthcare initiatives, targeting reproductive health, maternal care and menopause support.

The investment is the latest chapter in a philanthropic career that has already seen billions directed toward women's empowerment and global health programs.

'I've always believed if you don't start with good health, it's pretty hard to live up to whatever it is you want to do in your life,' she told The Guardian.

French Gates argued that women's health has been neglected for generations, noting that only a tiny fraction of global medical research funding is directed toward issues primarily affecting women.

'We have under-prioritised women for so long,' she said.

Particular attention will be focused on menopause and perimenopause, which she says remain poorly understood despite affecting millions of women.

'It's like this time in a woman's life is literally invisible to the world,' she said.

French Gates also took aim at the rollback of abortion rights in America following the overturning of Roe v Wade.

'My granddaughters are growing up with fewer rights than I had,' she said. 

'I don't think women's health should be a political issue. I think women should decide if and when to have a child, and those decisions are best made in the privacy of our lives, not by our government.'

The comments come as French Gates continues to deploy a fortune estimated in the tens of billions of dollars.

Yet despite her immense wealth, she acknowledged the discomfort she feels about such enormous fortunes being concentrated in the hands of a small number of people.

'I think we need more equity in society,' she said. 'We have to do something to create more equity.'

For now, however, French Gates appears determined to focus less on her past and more on the causes she believes can shape the future.