Melinda French Gates says MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’ ex, helped her with parenting kids that were raised ‘down the street’ from each other

“Well, first of all, they had an allowance, so we absolutely did not just buy them things. And they either had to buy with their allowance or put it on their wish list, that maybe they’d get it from their grandparents or us on their birthday or Christmas,” she said.

Even though French Gates said that such a parenting style felt like “a good principle to have,” she noted that it was encouraging to see how she wasn’t the only billionaire spouse practicing such an approach.

“And I have to say, again, MacKenzie was helpful to me in this. I could see a bit how she was parenting, and I knew we had quite similar philosophies, actually,” she told The Times.

“We were close-ish, not as close then, but I knew she was trying to raise her kids, literally just down the street from me, in essentially the same way,” she continued.

It’s not just parenting. Both French Gates and Scott have gone all in with their activism and philanthropy after divorcing their ex-husbands, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos respectively.

“I have great respect, huge respect for what she’s doing,” French Gates said of Scott’s philanthropy to The Times. “She certainly has had an effect on me in philanthropy, and I hope I’ve had an effect on her.”

Their advocacy and charitable giving have even earned them the same critic — Elon Musk.

Musk has branded both women as billionaire ex-wives who are trying to bring about the “downfall of Western civilization.”

Back in March, Scott donated $640 million to 361 non-profits, just weeks after Musk slammed her charity work. The hefty donation was more than the $250 million she had initially pledged to give away last year.

French Gates, meanwhile, drew Musk’s criticism after she endorsed President Joe Biden in June. She has since endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to replace Biden as Democratic nominee after he dropped out of the race this month.

“I thought it was silly,” French Gates said of Musk’s criticisms before clapping back at outspoken tech executives like him, per The Times.

“I’ve just watched over the years tech leaders interviewed about their parenting style, a male who has spent, you know, 60 hours at his company that week, and I’m sure he’s a fantastic CEO and has done a great job — maybe or maybe not — in their company,” she said.

“But then they get asked about parenting, and they spew all this stuff, and you think, something doesn’t add up here,” she added.

Representatives for French Gates and Scott did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.