Melinda French Gates Wears Cowboy Hat to Celebrate Beyoncé's New Album: 'Big Day for Us Texas Girls'

French Gates shared her support for "Act II: Cowboy Carter" in a video she posted on Instagram Friday

Melinda French Gates
Photo:

Melinda French Gates/Instagram

Melinda French Gates is tipping her cowboy hat to Beyoncé!

In a Friday Instagram post, the philanthropist and advocate shared a fun video saluting the Grammy winner on the release of her new album, Act II: Cowboy Carter.

Wearing a sunny yellow tweed jacket, black pants and an oatmeal-colored cowboy hat, French Gates, 59, danced in place in front of a stand-up desk before she turned to the camera and smiled slightly while moving to doff her hat — all to the tune of “Texas Hold ‘Em.” 

“Big day for us Texas girls #cowboycarter #beyonce,” the mother of three and grandmother of one wrote alongside the clip.

French Gates and Beyoncé, 42, share Texas roots but hail from different parts of the Lone Star State.

The ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was born in Dallas in 1964 and attended Ursuline Academy of Dallas, an exclusive prep school located in the city’s Preston Hollow neighborhood, before enrolling at Duke University.

Beyoncé, meanwhile, grew up about 250 miles south in Houston, where she went to St. Mary's Montessori School in Houston, which helped jump-start her career in music.

On Friday, the "16 Carriages" singer marked her album drop day around the world from Texas — in Japan.

The mother of three greeted fans at Tower Records in Tokyo for an album signing in a latex dress and a brown cowboy hat.

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Recently, French Gates has been showing her support for two other women: daughters, Jennifer, 27 and Phoebe, 21.

Last week, Jennifer announced in an Instagram post that she had received her placement in the National Resident Matching Program.

Pediatrician incoming!!! 💗👩‍⚕️” she wrote in the post, alongside a photo of her smiling for the camera in a black dress.

“Congratulations on this next chapter," French Gates wrote to her daughter in the comments.

Jennifer Gates Nassar, Melinda French Gates and Phoebe Gates attend Goalkeepers 2023
(L-R) Jennifer Gates, Melinda French Gates, Phoebe Gates.

Paula Lobo/Getty

French Gates has also been happy to praise her youngest child as Phoebe continues to use her platform to advocate for important issues, including women's rights and sustainability in fashion.

On Monday, the Stanford University student shared a link on Instagram of her recent interview with Bustle, in which she spoke, among other things, about how she was raised. “Since a very young age, it was acknowledged that we, as kids, were in a huge position of privilege, and that came with a ton of responsibility for us to do something good,” she wrote.

“Proud of you, @phoebegates!” replied French Gates.

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