Who is Bill Gates' ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad's husband Alex Kline? All you need to know

Amid Bill Gates and Melinda Gates' divorce announcement, as it was reported that the Microsoft co-founder would spend long weekends with his ex-girlfriend, Ann Winblad, even after marriage. People have now become curious about her husband, Edward Alex Kline. According to the New York Post, in a 1997 interview, it was revealed that after marrying his wife, Bill had an ‘arrangement’ that allowed him to meet with Ann. He had also made sure that the arrangement was part of the deal when he married Melinda French in 1994. 

Bill Gates and his former girlfriend Ann Winblad dated in the eighties and broke up once he met Melinda in 1987. While Bill Gates' ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad is a software entrepreneur and venture capitalist, not much is known about her husband, Alex. However, it was recently revealed that Ann is married to actor Kevin Kline’s brother, Alex Kline, who has two adult kids from a previous marriage. 

About Bill Gates' ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad's husband

New York Post reported that Bill Gates' ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad married Alex six years ago - around 2015. Alex is a private investigator and Standford University graduate who played an extra in his brother’s 1988 movie, ‘A Fish called Wanda’. As a private investigator, Alex looks into cases revolving around deaths and disappearances. 

At the same time, he also reportedly has a keen interest in municipal bond fraud and civil rights violations. Alex usually practices pretrial research and corporate investigations method for his case. Additionally, he also has his own company named ‘Alex Kline investigation and Research Service’. 

Alex’s LinkedIn bio read, “I run a full-service private investigation agency. With over 35 years experience in a wide variety of investigative areas, Alex Kline Investigation & Research Service assists law firms, attorneys, government agencies, corporate clients, and individuals with virtually any issue requiring investigative knowledge and experience”. 

According to reports, Alex has majored in human biology as well. Later, he even studied law for a year at the University of Colorado-Boulder. However, he then decided to change his career and chose private investigator as his profession. 

Bill Gates' 'arrangement' with Ann and Melinda

Meanwhile, noted author Walter Isaacson had reported in his Time story on Bill’s life and career, “Even now, Gates has an arrangement with his wife that he and (Ann) Winblad can keep one vacation tradition alive”. The report further stated that every spring, for over a decade, Bill Gates spends a long weekend with Ann Winblad at her beach cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, “where they ride dune buggies, hang-glide and walk on the beach". Bill told the magazine in 1997 that “We can play putt-putt while discussing biotechnology.”

Further, Bill Gates' ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad added to Time, “We share our thoughts about the world and ourselves. And we marvel about how, as two young overachievers, we began a great adventure on the fringes of a little-known industry and it landed us at the centre of an amazing universe”. In the same magazine profile, Bill had made the revelation that he actually asked his ex-girlfriend for her “approval” before asking Melinda to marry him. 

Bill, who was already the youngest US billionaire at the time, reportedly negotiated one long weekend every year with Ann which was the couple’s ‘arrangement.’ It was Bill Gates' ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad who personally persuaded Bill to marry Melinda, as per the report saying that the future spouse was “a good match for him because she had intellectual stamina.” It is worth mentioning that on May 4 Bill and Melinda Gates announced that they are ending their marriage. 

The couple said in a statement, “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...We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”

(Image: AP/Instagram)