‘Terrifying’: Phoebe Gates reveals billionaire Bill Gates’ Asperger’s diagnosis

Bill Gates’ daughter, Phoebe Gates, recently shared that her father has Asperger’s syndrome, which is now classified as part of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She made this announcement during an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast, bringing attention to a part of the Microsoft co-founder’s life that had not been publicly discussed.

This also helps explain some of his previously mentioned neurological differences. Phoebe talked about how her father can be “pretty socially awkward” in social situations, as reported by Page Six. She mentioned that bringing romantic partners home to meet him was “terrifying” for them, though she found it funny because she understood his Asperger’s.

While this is the first time a diagnosis has been publicly confirmed, Bill Gates has hinted in the past that he might be on the autism spectrum. As The Independent reports, in Gates’ 2025 memoir, Source Code, he wrote that if he were a child today, he probably would have been diagnosed with ASD.

Bill Gates has Asperger’s syndrome

In the book, Gates looked back on his childhood, remembering how he would focus intensely on certain projects, struggle to read social cues, and sometimes act in ways that came across as rude or inappropriate without realizing how it affected others. He explained that this was because neurodiversity was not well understood when he was young. The term “neurodivergent,” which refers to people whose brains work differently, did not come into use until the 1990s, he noted.

Formal testing for ASD was not available until the 1980s, by which time Gates was already in his late twenties or early thirties. In a February interview with Axios, Bill Gates talked more about how he always knew he was different.

He said he recognized his high energy levels, deep concentration, and preference for studying alone, which sometimes confused people and led to mixed reactions from others during his childhood. He also admitted that he often had trouble understanding social cues and misread social situations. Even though he was not diagnosed as a child, his parents, possibly without realizing it, gave him support and encouragement in dealing with these challenges.

This story gives a better understanding of the experiences that shaped Bill Gates’s life. The limited awareness of neurodevelopmental differences, when he was young is very different from the growing knowledge and diagnostic tools available today.

He recalled that about 25 years ago, someone mentioned he might be on the spectrum. At first, he was surprised by the idea, but later he thought it was probably true, recognizing how complex the autism spectrum is.