Melinda French Gates, the philanthropist and ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has broken her silence on the latest release of damning documents tied to deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, saying the renewed scrutiny of her ex-husband's associations evokes "very, very painful" memories from their marriage.

In an interview with NPR's "Wild Card" podcast, French Gates addressed the Department of Justice's most recent disclosure of millions of pages of Epstein-related materials, including shocking draft emails from 2013 in which Epstein made lurid allegations about Gates. One draft accused the billionaire of contracting a sexually transmitted infection from encounters with "Russian girls" and seeking antibiotics that he could administer to his then-wife without her knowledge.