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Elon Musk has taken a lot of heat for his business and political decisions (from buying Twitter to supporting President Donald Trump to performing a Nazi-like salute at the inauguration), but his love life has also led to much interest.
Before he was cozying up to Trump, Elon was cozying up to alternative singer Grimes. The former couple have three children, and their relationship has had quite a few twists and turns, but they seem to be done for good.
Elon’s three marriages and other relationships have made headlines. Elon also has a large brood of children, and he’s been open about why he’s decided to father many kids.
As the SpaceX CEO begins to lead the newly established Department of Government Efficiency, get to know more about Elon’s romantic past here.
Elon Musk’s Past Marriages
Elon’s relationship with Grimes has been his most publicized, but the X (formerly Twitter) owner has been married three times to two women.
Elon’s first marriage was to Canadian author Justine Wilson from 2000 until 2008. The pair first met while they were students at Queen’s University in Canada, and they briefly dated in college.
After graduating and going their separate ways, the couple reunited a few years later, when Elon invited Justine to Silicon Valley. The author detailed their romance in a personal essay for Marie Claire in 2010.
Following the death of their first son and Elon’s intense work schedule, Justine wrote that the marriage began to falter.
“It was a dream lifestyle, privileged and surreal. But the whirlwind of glitter couldn’t disguise a growing void at the core,” she wrote.
Despite “some anger” and complicated divorce proceedings, Justine also wrote that she didn’t “regret” the marriage or divorce in that personal essay.
Elon’s second marriage was to actress Talulah Riley. The pair started dating shortly after he filed for divorce from Justine. The pair married in 2010, but they divorced in 2012.
Despite splitting up after two years of marriage, they worked out their differences and remarried in 2013. Still, Elon filed for divorce for a short time in 2014, but the couple split up for good in 2016.
Even though the marriage didn’t last, it appears that the Pride and Prejudice actress doesn’t have many hard feelings about the relationship ending.
“I loved/love the guy, so I’m incredibly subjective in my opinion, cannot be unbiased and shouldn’t be expected to be either,” she told The Times in 2024. She also recalled that all her weddings were “lovely.”
After Elon Musk divorced Tallulah, he briefly dated actress Amber Heard, before linking up with Grimes. Actress Natasha Bassett and attorney Nicole Shanahan are other rumored flings. He denied any link to Nicole.
Elon Musk’s Relationship With Grimes
Elon and Grimes’ relationship has had its share of ups and downs. While many people may be familiar with their romance, the pair never actually tied the knot. Despite never marrying the pair share three kids.
Grimes and Elon have had a bit of an on-and-off dynamic for a few years, but it seems like they’re done for good as of 2025. Still, the “Oblivion” singer seemingly tries to maintain a good relationship to co-parent their kids.
Despite the split, Grimes has caught strays for her ex’s actions. The tech entrepreneur faced backlash for his Nazi-like salute at Trump’s rally, and fans called on Grimes to speak out.
Grimes spoke about their children in response to fans asking her to denounce him.
While I deeply respect your concern- it is unhealthy that people are this upset when I have not even been online yet today and am only just learning about this controversy now. I don’t know what happened and I will not make a rash statement – I am not a citizen of this country.…
— 𝖦𝗋𝗂𝗆𝖾𝗌 ⏳ (@Grimezsz) January 21, 2025
“I am not him. I will not make a statement every time he does something,” she tweeted.
“To be clear i could go talk s**t and be on a bunch of magazine covers and be a feminist hero and get clout – but it would serve no purpose. I choose my children’s wellbeing,” she continued.
His Current Relationship Status
While Elon has been in the public eye even more since Trump’s win in the 2024 election, his romantic partners have been incredibly dubious.
Amidst his confusing relationship with Grimes, people have also speculated that he’s dating Neuralink executive Shivon Zillis, with whom he shares two kids.
While their relationship status is not confirmed, Shivon did accompany Elon to Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, according to Newsweek.
Elon Musk’s Children
Throughout his relationships, Elon has fathered 12 children. He has shown support for the “pro-natalist” movement, according to Newsweek. The movement encourages people to have large families to prevent population decline.
Elon has also encouraged followers to reproduce rapidly on X. “Population collapse is coming… Earth is almost empty of humans,” he wrote, per Sky News.
“Instead of teaching fear of pregnancy we should teach fear of childlessness,” Elon continued.
The tech entrepreneur’s father Errol Musk has also supported the movement. “We are here to continue being here. We should all be worried about declining populations, any country with any industry should be worried,” he told Sky News.
Elon and Justine had six children during their marriage. Their first son Nevada Alexander Musk died at 10 weeks old from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in 2002.
They had twins Griffin and Vivian in 2004 and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian in 2006. In 2022, Vivian came out as transgender and legally changed her name.
After linking up with Grimes, she gave birth to her and Elon’s first child X Æ A-Xii in May 2020. The pair caught some heat for the difficult-to-pronounce name. Elon explained that it’s pronounced “X Ash A Twelve” on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
Grimes revealed that she privately gave birth to a daughter Exa Dark Sideræl Musk in December 2021 in a Vanity Fair profile in March 2022. In 2023, it was revealed that the pair had a third child, another son.
In October 2023, Grimes sued Elon for parental rights, according to NBC News.
Shortly before Grimes gave birth to their daughter, Elon fathered twins via IVF with Neuralink Director of Operations Shivon Zillis in November 2021.
Vivian Musk Calls Out Her Dad
Vivian is very outspoken about her political opinions and opposing her father. Elon has said that she was “killed by the woke mind virus,” per NBC News. Vivian has not held back in calling out her dad.
In addition to firing back at his transphobic comments, she has also claimed that he was mostly absent as a parental figure during her childhood. “He’s very quick to anger. He is uncaring and narcissistic,” she told NBC.
As her father has courted controversy with his political opinions, Vivian has routinely called him out on social media. She also revealed that her mom Justine is very supportive of her.
