Bill Gates Was 30 Years Older Than Russian Bridge Player During Their Alleged Affair: Report

Bill Gates was in his 50s when he allegedly had an affair with a young Russian bridge player, a report claims.

The Microsoft co-founder was about 30 years older than Mila Antonova in 2010, when he allegedly met and had a secret relationship with her, Fox News reported.

Gates, whose date of birth is Oct. 28, 1955, would have been 53 and still married to his now ex-wife Melinda. Antonova was in her 20s at the time, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the alleged affair.

In a YouTube video posted by Ignite NYC in July 2010, Antonova discussed meeting Gates at a bridge tournament and playing against the tech mogul.

Antonova said "no one believed" her when she said two years prior to her speech that she would meet Gates before revealing that she played against him in the previous year at the National Bridge Tournament in Washington, D.C.

"I didn't beat him, but I tried to kick him with my leg," Antonova said in the clip.

The Russian woman also showed a picture of her and Gates.

Fox News also unearthed a Twitter account allegedly owned and managed by Antonova. The account @BridgeUnion follows 43 people, including Gates.

On April 18, 2010, Antonova's suspected Twitter account posted, "Bill Gates speaks to BridgeUnion.com," with a link to a Facebook post on "Contract Bridge."

The following day, @BridgeUnion retweeted Gates' tweet, "We are live RT @aplusk: RT @TechCrunch Bill Gates Talks About How To Change The World."

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal released a bombshell report claiming that convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein appeared to threaten Gates and tried to blackmail the billionaire over his alleged extramarital affair with the Russian bridge player.

According to the report, Antonova was introduced to Epstein by Boris Nikolic, a Gates confidant and then-top science adviser, in November 2013 as she was seeking funds for an online venture.

Antonova and Nikolic went to Epstein's townhouse, where the Russian woman presented her proposal for a project called BridgePlanet, the report said. However, Epstein reportedly didn't invest in her venture.

The following year, Antonova decided to become a software programmer and asked several people to lend her money. She said Epstein "agreed to pay" her coding school fees but sent the money directly to the institution and "nothing was exchanged" between them, according to WSJ.

Epstein contacted the Microsoft co-founder about Antonova in 2017, years after the alleged relationship had ended, asking Gates to reimburse the costs of the Russian woman's education, unnamed people familiar with the matter told WSJ.

However, the tone of Epstein's message was that he knew about Gates' alleged affair and could expose it, the sources claimed.

Antonova did not comment on Gates and the affair allegations but told the publication that she "had no idea that [Epstein] was a criminal or had any ulterior motive" when they met.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Gates said that the billionaire did not make a payment to the disgraced financier in connection with Antonova.

Gates' rep also reiterated that the businessman "had no financial dealings with Epstein" and that he met with him in the past "solely for philanthropic purposes."

Epstein took his own life in prison in 2019 after he was arrested for federal sex trafficking charges.

Bill and Melinda announced in May 2021 that they were divorcing after 27 years of marriage.