A year before the press learned about the divorce, Melinda French Gates had already separated from billionaire Bill Gates. Nightmares were the decisive factor.

Melinda Gates shares how ex-husband and Microsoft co-founder reacted to her request for a divorce. A 27-year marriage can often feel like it’ll last forever, but when philanthropist Melinda realized that her marriage was over, she had to come to terms that her family would be broken.

Bill and Melinda Gates are no longer married, and Melinda recently opened up about what it was like to tell her husband she wanted to separate. In her forthcoming book The Next D