What All Of Elon Musk's Exes Have Said About Him

Elon Musk seems to be on a one-person mission to repopulate the world and then fly all his children off to Mars to start afresh. Given Musk's already got eleven kids, he'd need plenty of thrust and a larger-than-average descent module. However, given what Musk's exes have said about him, it would likely just be him and the kids blasting off.

It would take more than 280 characters to list all of Musk's ex-girlfriends and baby mamas. Musk can't seem to keep a relationship going outside of that with his multiple offspring, retaining a close relationship with ... well, some of them. Musk has enjoyed success beyond his wildest dreams in building up the billions. His love life, though, remains a failure — but not from a lack of trying.

"I'm looking for a long-term relationship. I'm not looking for a one-night stand. I'm looking for a serious companion or soulmate, that kind of thing," he told Rolling Stone writer Neil Strauss in 2017, fresh from a painful breakup. Strauss suggested it might be good for Musk to enjoy a little alone time while he regrouped and recovered from his broken heart rather than jump straight back into the fray. But nope, Musk was having none of it. "If I'm not in love, if I'm not with a long-term companion, I cannot be happy," he insisted. Still, by his exes' accounts, Musk's not happy when he's in love, either.

Elon Musk's first romantic conquest was Justine Musk, née Wilson. Page Six reports that they married in 2000, and two years later, they welcomed their first child. Sadly, their son Nevada Alexander Musk died at ten weeks from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Elon and Justine welcomed five more children: twins Griffin and Vivian Musk in 2004 and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian Musk in 2006. Two years later, the marriage was over. In his biography, "Elon Musk," author Walter Isaacson offers a startling insight into what went wrong for the first Mr. and Mrs. Musk's relationship. "They smiled and kissed," Isaacson writes of the couple's wedding day. "Then, as they danced, he whispered to her a reminder, 'I am the alpha in this relationship.'"

Justine described their marriage as a "cluster f*** of disruptive things." She told Isaacson that Elon wanted her to be a "trophy wife" and tried to control her, even telling her what shade of blonde her hair should be. As their riches grew, so did their divide. "Elon was obsessed with his work," Justine wrote in a 2008 essay for Marie Claire. "When he was home, his mind was elsewhere." She admitted that she began to lose her sense of self as Elon became more controlling and critical of her. "I am your wife, not your employee," she told him repeatedly. "If you were my employee, I would fire you," he reportedly replied.

Elon and Justine Musk divorced in 2008, but it didn't take him any time to return to the romance saddle. Per Cosmopolitan, he met British actor Talulah Riley the same year. They dated for two years, tied the knot in 2010, and divorced in 2012 without having any kids together. "It was an amazing four years. I will love you forever. You will make someone very happy one day," Elon posted at the time on X, formerly Twitter (via Forbes). But wait! They remarried in 2013. Then, yep, they divorced yet again — this time, forever — in 2016.

In his book "Elon Musk," Walter Isaacson writes that the billionaire's work addiction got in the way of love again. "She would invite me to dinner, and Elon wouldn't show because he was working late," a friend told Isaacson. "She loved him to bits, but she understandably got tired of being treated that way." Isaacson writes that after their second "very low-key" wedding, it didn't take long before "Musk's obsession with work continued to plague their relationship."

However, Riley only has good things to say about Elon now they're no longer married. She told The Independent that he's "the perfect ex-husband." Riley shared they have a "very deep love and connection," and he's remained a "great friend" since their split. "He looks out for me. We are in a happy place now, where we're good to each other, which is really nice," she said. "I have the utmost love for him."

If it wasn't for him being dragged into the Amber Heard v. Johnny Depp defamation trainwreck, many wouldn't know Elon Musk dated the actress. He did, and even though it was on and off for only for a year, Heard apparently left a gaping hole in his heart when she dumped him in 2018. Per Cosmopolitan, Heard was fresh off her Depp divorce while Musk was still licking his wounds over Talulah Riley, and the two started hooking up.

Unsurprisingly, their relationship was fiery and intense. "Musk was not bred for domestic tranquility," Walter Isaacson writes in his book "Elon Musk," noting that his romantic connections inevitably involve "psychological turmoil." However, according to Isaacson, Heard's own psychological turmoil turned nuclear, resulting in Musk being drawn "into a dark vortex that lasted more than a year." His friends told Isaacson that they believe Elon's "2018 tailspin" was because of him "being in awful grief around Amber."

Their split tore him to pieces. "I just broke up with my girlfriend. I was really in love, and it hurt bad," Musk admitted during an interview with Rolling Stone. "Well, she broke up with me more than I broke up with her, I think." Heard officially announced their split on Instagram. "Although we have broken up, Elon and I care deeply for one another and remain close. Thank you for the continued support, respect, and privacy during these difficult, very human times," she wrote as a caption on a photo of roses spelling out the word "Give."

Elon Musk was back in baby-making mode when he met the Canadian musician Grimes. Elon and Grimes' relationship was messy, tumultuous, cyclical, and fruitful, resulting in three kids. Their first child, X Æ A-12 (aka X), was born in May 2020. By September, though, they'd split ... sort of, kind of, maybe. "Grimes and I are, I'd say, probably semi-separated," Elon told Time. "We weren't seeing each other that much, and I think this is, to some degree, a long-term thing because what she needs to do is mostly in L.A. or touring, and my work is mostly in remote locations like this."

"He would be happier with a partner," his brother Kimbal Musk told Time. "But he's also a very hard person to be partnered with." Elon insisted he and Grimes were still good friends, and it became more apparent that he wasn't lying when they welcomed a daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl (aka Y), via surrogate in December 2021. "I would probably refer to [Elon] as my boyfriend, but we're very fluid," she told Vanity Fair. "We live in separate houses. We're best friends. We see each other all the time." Grimes said they wanted more kids together — "at least three or four."

According to Walter Isaacson, number three, Techno Mechanicus, arrived via surrogate in June 2022. However, their romance remained rocky, to say the least. "Their relationship became a rollercoaster of companionship, co-parenting, loneliness, avoidance, boundary setting, estrangement, blocking, ghosting, and reembracing," Isaacson wrote in his biography "Elon Musk."

Elon Musk threw an absolute curve ball in 2022. Everybody was shocked and stunned — including Grimes — when Business Insider reported that Shivon Zilis, an executive at Musk's company Neuralink, had given birth to twins in November 2021. It wasn't hard to do the math and work out that Zilis was expecting at the same time Musk and Grimes' surrogate was pregnant with their second child. According to "Elon Musk" biographer Walter Isaacson, Grimes learned about the existence of Elon and Zilis' twins Strider and Azure, who were born seven weeks prematurely, at the same time as everybody else, after the court filing to change their last name to Musk, was leaked. Isaacson claims that Grimes had considered Zilis a good friend of hers.

"Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far," Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter). He added, "Mark my words; they are sadly true." For her part, Zilis remained schtum. However, she told Isaacson that her boss had inspired her to procreate after lecturing staff on how declining birth rates were leading to an eventual collapse in the human population.

"He really wants smart people to have kids, so he encouraged me to do this," Zilis told Isaacson (via People), explaining that Musk suggested using his sperm instead of a donor. "I can't possibly think of genes I would prefer for my children," she said.