It appears Phoebe Gates has revealed her billionaire dad’s medical condition.
Only, Bill Gates has never publicly shared it himself.
The 22-year-old Stanford student was making an appearance on Alex Cooper’s popular podcast, Call Her Daddy, when she seemed to accidentally let it slip.
It all came about when the host asked Phoebe what her experience has been like when she’s ever brought home guys to meet her dad.
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“For the guy, terrifying. For me, it’s hilarious because my dad’s pretty socially awkward,” the fashion start-up owner explained.
But she then went to make the pretty offhand comment about the Microsoft co-founder's condition that has caused a bit of a stir.
“Like he’s said before, he has Asperger’s. So, like to me, it’s so funny,” Phoebe said.
Bill has never spoken out publicly about having Asperger’s syndrome,, but has said he believes he’d be diagnosed with an autism if he was a child today.
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LADbible has contacted his reps for comment on this admission from his youngest child.
Asperger syndrome is a form of autism and is used to describe people at the ‘higher functioning end’ of the autistic spectrum. People with Asperger’s are less likely to have learning disabilities that are typically associated with autism and often have average or above average intelligence.
A noticeable trait is that those with Asperger syndrome often develop an ‘almost obsessive interest in a hobby’.
The NHS adds that doctors don’t diagnose people with this anymore, as it’s now thought of as part of the autism spectrum disorder.
In his memoir released earlier this year, Source Code: My Beginnings, Bill said he believed he would have been diagnosed with a form of autism is he was growing up in this current time.
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“During my childhood, the fact that some people’s brains process information differently from others wasn’t widely understood,” he wrote.
“My parents had no guideposts or textbooks to help them grasp why their son became so obsessed with certain projects, missed social cues, and could be rude and inappropriate without seeming to notice his effect on others.”
The philanthropist further opened up in a February interview with Axios when he said: “I always knew I was different in ways that confused people in terms of my energy level and intensity, and going off and just studying things.
“And it's a little confusing when you're a kid, that you're different, or people react to you in some ways, or your social skills — you're miscuing on various things.”
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Bill also looked back to the first time someone suggested he had autism ‘like 25 years ago’.
He said: “I remember thinking, ‘What the hell? What the hell? I run a goddamn company.’ And then I realized, well, actually, it’s probably true. I mean, the spectrum thing is confusing.”
Topics: Bill Gates, Podcast, Celebrity News
Jess Battison