Elon Musk told his first wife as they danced at their wedding that he was “the alpha in this relationship,” according to a 2010 essay that has attracted renewed interest since it was learned that the Tesla boss paid $250,000 in hush money to settle sex misconduct claims.
Justine Musk wrote about her 2008 divorce from Musk in a piece for Marie Claire that was titled “I Was a Starter Wife.”
In the essay, the Canadian author, who is mother to five of Musk’s children, wrote that she became the tech mogul’s “trophy wife.”
During their first dance at the wedding reception, Justine Musk wrote that her husband whispered to her: “I am the alpha in this relationship.”
“I shrugged it off, just as I would later shrug off signing the postnuptial agreement, but as time went on, I learned that he was serious,” Justine Musk wrote.
“He had grown up in the male-dominated culture of South Africa, and the will to compete and dominate that made him so successful in business did not magically shut off when he came home.”
Justine Musk first met Elon Musk when they were college students at Queens University in the Canadian town of Kingston, Ontario.
In January 2000, they wed after moving to Silicon Valley, where Elon Musk became a multimillionaire after selling the online startup Zip2 for $20 million.
Justine Musk wrote that “the vast economic imbalance between us, meant that in the months following our wedding, a certain dynamic began to take hold.”
“Elon’s judgment overruled mine, and he was constantly remarking on the ways he found me lacking,” Justine Musk wrote.
“‘I am your wife’, I told him repeatedly, ‘not your employee’.”
According to Justine Musk, Elon replied: “If you were my employee, I would fire you.”
The couple welcomed their first son, Nevada Alexander Musk, in 2002, but lost him to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) at 10 weeks old.
The couple went on to have a set of twins — Griffin and Xavier Musk — in 2004 and a set of triplets — Kai, Saxon, and Damian Musk — in 2006, a total of five children.
Six weeks after filing he filed for divorce from Justine Musk, Elon Musk got engaged to British actress Talulah Riley. The two would go on to get married in 2010.
The couple hit a rough patch in 2014 when they divorced at Elon’s request for the first time. The pair reconciled and remarried 18 months later only for Riley to file for divorce in 2016.
Later that same year, Elon Musk began dating Amber Heard shortly after the “Aquaman” actress divorced Johnny Depp.
Unfortunately, she and Musk split after just one year due to their intense schedules.
Musk went on to tell Rolling Stone in November 2017 that the split was quite difficult for him, adding he was, “really in love, and it hurt bad.”
Musk began dating musician Grimes in April 2018, one month before the couple made their red carpet debut at the Met Gala.
Grimes and Elon welcomed son X Æ A-12 in May 2020, engaging in a Twitter discussion over the name’s pronunciation while the singer recovered from giving birth.
After three years together, the couple split, with Musk confirming via social media that he and the Canadian songstress are “semi-separated” but remain on good terms and continue to co-parent their 1-year-old son.
“We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms,” Musk told us.
In her Vanity Fair cover story released in March 2022, Grimes confirmed the pair were back together after rumors he was dating Australian actress Natasha Bassett. She also revealed she secretly welcomed a second child, a baby girl named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, via surrogate in December 2021.
Hours after the story was released, she revealed they had broken up again.