Bill Gates Was ‘Worried’ to Ask Daughter Phoebe to Be in Netflix Show, but Their Conversation Was His ‘Favorite’

Bill Gates learned a lot while working on his new Netflix show — but he says his conversation with daughter Phoebe took the cake.

To celebrate the release of What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, the Microsoft co-founder, 68, penned a new post for his Gates Notes blog.

“As you might guess from the title, What’s Next? is a show about the future,” wrote the billionaire philanthropist. “Each episode focuses on a different challenge: artificial intelligence, climate change, misinformation, disease eradication, and income inequality.”

“It’s hard to pick which discussion I learned the most from. But three conversations will always stand out in my memory: the ones with Lady Gaga, Senator Bernie Sanders, and my younger daughter, Phoebe,” Bill wrote.

However, even though it was “fun” to sit down with Gaga and Sanders, Bill confessed that his “favorite conversation for the series took place last fall in New York City with my daughter Phoebe.”

The “proud papa” admitted that initially he was “a little worried about asking her to be in the series.”

“First, I have two other amazing children, and I wanted to see if either of them wanted to be a part of the show,” he wrote, referring to daughter Jennifer, 28, and son Rory, 25. But, he said “they were happy to let Phoebe take the spotlight.”

The second issue was logistical.

“We needed to film during Phoebe’s senior year of college. She was very busy not only finishing up school but starting her own business and speaking at the foundation’s Goalkeepers event later that same week,” he wrote of his 22-year-old daughter, who has since graduated from Stanford University and is preparing for the launch of her forthcoming digital platform, Phia.

“I’m glad we made it work, though, because our conversation—for the episode on misinformation—turned out to be a series highlight,” he wrote.

During the episode, Bill wrote, his daughter “shared with me specific examples of how bad actors use misinformation and disinformation to disrupt progress.”

In doing so, he wrote that “Phoebe helped me better understand how women online—particularly women who stick up for other women—often face threats to their safety that are intended to make them think twice before they speak out.”

“I’m not exactly a stranger to people being mean to you online, but I have the luxury of (mostly) ignoring what gets said about me,” he wrote. “Phoebe explained how these threats can have a chilling effect on women’s rights activism and shared some thoughtful ideas for how to make the internet a safer place for everyone.”

“Along with running her own company, Phoebe is also an incredible advocate for women’s rights and women’s health,” her father wrote. “She regularly meets with other activists, many of whom have been harassed online in some awful way.”

As for the other standout conversations?

Well, Bill wrote that even though “being around famous people doesn’t normally affect me,” he “couldn’t help but feel a little nervous” about meeting with Gaga, 38 — especially because of one of her high-profile acting roles.

“I’m a big fan of A Star is Born—especially its music—and I was aware of her reputation as an outsized personality. I couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say,” he wrote. “Luckily, I had nothing to worry about. I was blown away by how thoughtful Gaga was. She made me laugh with the outrageous stories of how she’s been the subject of misinformation in the past—and inspired me with some of the ways she thinks about the topic.”

He had similar praise when he spoke about his time speaking with Sanders, 83.

“Several of my friends raised an eyebrow when I told them I was going to meet with him. After all, Sen. Sanders is the first U.S. Senator in history to go on record saying that billionaires shouldn’t exist. How would this discussion go?” he wrote.

In fact, the billionaire’s friends weren’t the only ones surprised to see them together.

“After the filming ended, we both had other meetings in Washington, so we walked downstairs together and out to our waiting cars. On the sidewalk, a passing jogger saw Sen. Sanders and shouted, ‘Bernie!’ Then, noticing me, he did a double take and yelled, ‘Holy s—, Bill Gates!’ Which made both of us laugh,” he wrote. “I guess we were an unexpected duo.”

Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of the show’s release, Bill said that being a part of the Netflix show gave him a “real chance to talk about topics that I care about and I have views on, and I learned a lot.”

“My goal for the show is for it to inspire more people to have conversations about these important topics,” he wrote in his latest blog post. “There is no doubt that there are scary things going on, and it feels like change is coming rapidly. But we shouldn’t underestimate what happens when people work together and focus on a problem.”

“I’m confident that brilliant people—especially young people—will step up with great solutions. The key is to get engaged in the issues. They’re simply too important to just get pessimistic or put our heads in the sand,” he added. “These are global problems, and we should talk to each other about them. It’s a critical time, but if we engage, there is a path to progress.

What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates is currently streaming on Netflix.

Source people.com