Elon Musk's Dating History Explained

Elon Musk is certainly not quiet in his romantic pursuit. Almost all of his relationships are high-profile and entangled with drama. Musk's first marriage ended in a messy divorce and a lot of bad press, but it doesn't end there. What followed was a string of unconventional romances and custody battles, not to mention a paternity petition by one of his alleged baby mamas. For instance, the South African native once had a brief but painful on-and-off relationship with a divisive Hollywood star. He also married and divorced another famous star, not once but twice. Indeed, Musk's dating history and love life is a lot to unpack.

"I'm just wired for war, basically," the Tesla co-founder told journalist Walter Isaacson in his biography, "Elon Musk" (via Business Insider). Musks' comment aligns with the sentiments shared by his first wife, who told Isaacson, "There is a combative element to him. I don't think you can be in a relationship with Elon and not argue." Amber Heard, one of Musk's more recent partners, echoed the sentiment, saying "Elon loves fire and sometimes it burns him." In Isaacson's biography, he noted a great deal of "psychological turmoil" in the context of Musks' past relationships (via Business Insider). However, despite his rocky dating history, Musk has had no shortage of romantic partners.

Elon Musk dated Jennifer Gwynne in 1994 while they were both student advisors in the same dorms at the University of Pennsylvania. Gwynne recalled Musk being sweet and timid. "He definitely started off shy and quiet, which was my type," she told The Independent. "He just won me over by bringing me food one night to my room. And we were an item after that." She shared that Musk had an occasional silly and playful side, and even then, she could see that he was unlike any others. "He talked about electric cars and solar power even way back then, but he just had a kind innocent 'this is how the world is going to change' view about it."

The couple broke up by the end of the summer of 1995, after just one year of dating. Musk graduated and moved to Palo Alto, and Gwynne spent the summer studying abroad in London, which put a strain on their relationship. For years following their split, Gwynne held onto the letters, gifts, and photos taken together. It wasn't until 2022 that Gwynne decided to let go of her sentimental possessions and put the items up for auction. "Elon was not very good at a long-distance relationship," she wrote on the auction website. He regarded their phone calls as a "waste of time," which wasn't so romantic. "I'll go on the record that it was a mutual breakup, as I honestly don't remember getting dumped," she added.

Elon and his ex-wife Justine Musk (née Wilson) met at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, before his transfer to the University of Pennsylvania in the early 1990s. Even in the early stages of the relationship, there were red flags. Justine recalled blowing him off on their first date to study in the student center only to find him standing in front of her hours later with melted ice cream cones in each hand. "He's not a man who takes no for an answer," the now-author wrote in her Marie Claire personal essay.

The two briefly parted ways but later rekindled their romance following Elon's move to Silicon Valley to start his first company, Zip2. In 2000, they got married on St. Martin in the Caribbean. By then, Elon had sold Zip2 and started his second company, X.com, which would later become known as PayPal. The economic imbalance changed the dynamics of their relationship. "As we danced at our wedding reception, Elon told me, 'I am the alpha in this relationship.' I shrugged it off, just as I would later shrug off signing the postnuptial agreement," Justine wrote. 

Elon was obsessed with work, while Justine slowly transformed into a trophy wife: thin, blonde, and maternal. After losing their first child to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the couple welcomed twins in 2004 and triplets in 2006. They lived a lavish lifestyle, but Justine felt a dissonance underneath it all. "'If you were my employee ... I would fire you," Justine recalled him repeatedly saying. Justine reported feeling insignificant in their marriage while failing to meet her husband's traditional expectations of a wife.

Eight years into Elon and his ex-wife's doomed marriage, a car accident brought clarity to Justine, who urged for a change in their relationship. However, three sessions of couple therapy only resulted in an ultimatum: fix their marriage on the spot or file for divorce. "He filed for divorce the next morning," she wrote in Marie Claire. 

The couple proceeded to a lengthy and very expensive divorce process. Justine realized that she had signed away her rights to community property in the postnuptial agreement, except for their house, which was in her name after the birth of a child. She also discovered that a postnup required complete financial transparency to be valid. In the next two years, she attempted to void the document in the California Courts. In March 2010, a judge ruled in Elon's favor, but Justine appealed. Even though they were legally divorced, the financial battle continued. 

The legal proceedings received massive media attention at the time. In July 2010, Elon broke the silence, clarifying that they had 50/50 custody, and he had been paying roughly $170,000 per month for both of their legal fees, as ruled by the judge due to the financial imbalance between spouses. He also paid $20,000 in alimony. "In attempting to maximize the financial outcome from those discussions, she has applied every possible legal and public relations pressure tactic," Elon wrote on Business Insider, stressing that he had offered to pay more than double the agreed amount in the postnuptial agreement. 

Talulah Riley and Elon Musk met at a nightclub in London in 2008, shortly after the tech billionaire filed to dissolve his marriage with Justine Musk. According to Justine, the pair got engaged very quickly. "Six weeks later, he texted me to say he was engaged to a gorgeous British actress in her early 20s who had moved to Los Angeles to be with him," Justine revealed in her essay. Riley, who has starred in "Pride and Prejudice" and "Westworld," felt a pull toward Elon. She recalled her first impression of Elon being nervous and shy. "I remember thinking that this guy probably didn't get to talk to young actresses a lot and that he seemed quite nervous," she said, per Ashlee Vance's book, "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future." She later learned that Elon had met many beautiful women throughout his life, but she felt sweet to be the only woman he was interested in for the night. "I figured he couldn't be all that bad after that." 

Musk also spoke highly of his then-fiancé. "Talulah, as anyone who knows her would attest, is one of the most kindhearted and gentle people in the world," he wrote in Business Insider. Riley also got along with Justine. "She is, by all accounts, a lovely, bright, and very young person, and better fitted to my ex-husband's lifestyle and personality than I ever was," Justine penned in Marie Claire.

Elon Musk and Talulah Riley tied the knot in 2010. Two years later, Musk filed for divorce. He revealed that Riley had moved out of their Bel Air house a few months beforehand to see if separation would repair their relationship, which it ultimately did not. "I still love her, but I'm not in love with her, and I can't really give her what she wants," he told Forbes. He also shared via X (formerly known as Twitter), "I will love you forever. You will make someone very happy one day" (via Forbes).

In 2013, they got hitched again, but their second marriage was also short-lived. Musk filed for divorce in 2014 but withdrew the request several months later. Despite trying to make it work, the couple eventually parted ways for real in 2016. "Obviously I understand it looks strange, but that logic made sense at the time," Riley told The Independent. She further explained that they were still together even after legally resolving their marriage: "I suppose the reason to get remarried was just because it felt silly to be together unmarried after having been married." 

Riley and Musk remained in contact with each other after their split. She shared that they have a deep connection with each other and called him the perfect ex-husband. In 2022, messages exchanged between the two went public, revealing how Riley urged Musk to buy Twitter months before the Tesla founder officially acquired the social media company. 

Rumors of Elon Musk's romance with Amber Heard first gained steam in 2017, after the two separated from their respective spouses. However, the tech mogul's interest in the actor began years earlier. Musk and Heard both starred in Robert Rodriguez's 2013 film, "Machete Kills," but they didn't have scenes together. Musk, who had been admiring Heard from afar, reached out to the production team to set up a meeting. "If there is a party or event with Amber, I'd be interested in meeting her just out of curiosity," he wrote in a email (via The Hollywood Reporter). "Allegedly, she is a fan of George Orwell and Ayn Rand ... most unusual."

The team set a date for the two, but the "Aquaman" actor failed to show up, so Musk pressed again, asking the team to send her a note about a lunch date in LA. He further clarified that it wasn't romantic: "Am not angling for a date. I know she's in a long-term relationship, but ... Amber just seems like an interesting person to meet." Fast forward to Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's unforgettable legal battle, in which the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star claimed that Musk and his ex-wife started seeing each other one month into their marriage, sharing late-night visits while he was out of the country. 

During the defamation trial, Heard stressed that she first met Musk at the Met Gala in 2016 after Depp's no-show. "I didn't recognize [Elon] until we started talking and he reminded me we had met once before," she said (via People). "He seemed like a real gentleman. He was really nice." The tech billionaire's rep echoed Heard's statement and claimed that they had no relationship before May 2016. In April 2017, the two upgraded their relationship status to dating. Heard announced the news via Instagram with a photo of the two out to dinner, Heard's arm hanging loosely from Musk's shoulder and a lipstick mark visible on his cheek. However, in August the same year, they announced their split. "She broke up with me more than I broke up with her, I think," Musk told the Rolling Stone. "I was really in love, and it hurt bad."

The two later explained in a joint statement that it was due to the distance and busy schedules. A few months later, they rekindled their romance and were seen on a getaway together in Chile and Easter Island in late December. They were also spotted sharing a kiss outside a restaurant in LA. However, in February 2018, they reportedly broke up again, and this time seemed final. Later that year, the "Zombieland" actor shared that they remained friends after the split. "We have a beautiful friendship now, one that was based on our core values," she told The Hollywood Reporter.

In May 2018, Elon Musk debuted his romance with Canadian singer Grimes (aka Claire Boucher) at the Met Gala after having been dating each other under the radar. Two years later, Grimes revealed that she was pregnant and named Musk as the baby's father. "For a girl, it's sacrificing your body and your freedom," she told Rolling Stone. She revealed that she had tried to avoid pregnancy because she found parenthood to be a profound commitment and was very shocked that she ended up doing the very thing that contradicted it. "It was really profound to me when I decided I was going to do it, to actually go through the act of unprotected sex," she said. "I do actually just really love my boyfriend, so I was like, 'You know, sure.'"

In May 2020, Grimes gave birth to a baby boy. Musk took to X, formerly Twitter to announce their unusual baby name: X Æ A-12 Musk. The Tesla CEO revealed on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast that his girlfriend was the one who came up with the first half of their son's name. "She's great with names," he said, explaining Æ stands for AI (artificial intelligence). A-12 was his contribution, and it had a very interesting reference. "The Archangel-12, the precursor to the SR-71, the coolest plane ever," he said. However, since Californian law doesn't allow characters, the couple changed their son's name to X Æ A-XII instead.

In 2021, Elon Musk confirmed that he and Grimes were not together anymore. "We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently, and are on great terms," Musk told Page Six. He again quoted distance and the two's conflicting schedules for the reason. That said, in December 2021, the pair secretly welcomed a daughter through surrogacy, but Grimes intends to keep her out of the spotlight. She calls their daughter Y, but her full name is Exa Dark Sideræl Musk. The couple welcomed a third child, Techno "Tau" Mechanicus, in June 2022. What followed was a year-long custody battle that impacted Grimes career. Grimes took to X to voice her side of the story, sharing, "I didn't see one of my babies for 5 months. And this is only what can be said publicly, since most of my experience these last years should remain behind closed doors."

On the topic of their relationship status, Grimes shared that they kept it fluid. "There's no real word for it," she told Vanity Fair. Although she referred to Musk as her boyfriend and saw him frequently, they lived in separate houses. "We just have our own thing going on, and I don't expect other people to understand it ... We just need to be free."

In July 2022, court documents acquired by Insider revealed that Elon Musk had fathered twins with one of his Neuralink executive, Shivon Zilis, mere weeks before the birth of his and Grimes' second baby. The twins, Strider and Azure, were born in November 2021 and share Musk's last name. The SpaceX CEO addressed the news on X, writing, "Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far."

In June 2024, Musk addressed the media's narrative surrounding his third child with Zilis, who was born earlier that year, clarifying that the decision not to make the news immediately public had nothing to do with secrecy. "All our friends and family know," he told Page Six. "Failure to issue a press release, which would be bizarre, does not mean 'secret.'" As it turned out, the Tesla CEO was really not joking when he said he was helping with the world's underpopulation. "Many countries are already well below replacement rate, and the trend is that almost all will be. This is simply a fact, not a 'debunked theory.'" He explained that two children per couple would be the replacement rate, and with many adults choosing not to have kids these days, "obviously, the world as a whole will soon drop below that point." 

In February 2025, conservative influencer and author Ashley St. Clair claimed that she was the mother of Elon Musk's 13th child. She announced on X, "Five months ago, I welcomed a new baby into the world. Elon Musk is the father." According to St. Clair, she did not wish to disclose the arrival of their child or her pregnancy to protect her family's privacy. However, she had a change of mind when a media reporter took an interest in her private life, forcing her to come forward with the truth, "regardless of the harm it will cause." St. Clair insists that she wants their child to grow up in a normal and safe environment, according to her post. 

The author first connected with the tech businessman through his social media platform, X. "Musk was very funny. He was smart. He was very down to earth," she told New York Post. "He slid into my DM's. I think it was a meme." She later interviewed Musk in San Francisco for Babylon Bee, a Christian satire news site, which led to a romantic trip to Rhode Island.

That said, Musk has not publicly acknowledged or confirmed that he's the father of St. Clair's baby. Meanwhile, St. Clair has filed a petition for sole custody of the baby, along with a paternity petition. In the petition, she claims that the tech businessman was not present at their son's birth, but that Musk "acknowledged parentage of the child in various written correspondences" (via People).