Born to a prominent family in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk emigrated to Canada in 1989 and acquired its citizenship though his mother. He moved to the U.S. and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania before moving to California to pursue business ventures. In 1995, Musk co-founded the software company Zip2. After its sale in 1999, he co-founded X.com, an online payment company that later merged to form PayPal, which was acquired by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. That year, Musk also became a U.S. citizen.
In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX and became its CEO and chief engineer. The company has since led innovations in reusable rockets and commercial spaceflight. In 2004, Musk joined Tesla, Inc., as an early investor, and became its CEO and product architect in 2008; it has become a market leader in electric vehicles. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI to advance artificial intelligence research, but left its board in 2018. In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a company focused on brain–computer interfaces, and in 2017 launched the Boring Company, which aims to develop tunnel transportation. Musk was named Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2021. In 2022, he acquired Twitter, implementing significant changes and rebranding it as X in 2023. In January 2025, he was appointed head of Trump's newly created DOGE.
Musk has fathered twelve children, one of whom is deceased, along with an alleged thirteenth child that Musk has not yet acknowledged.[1][2] He met his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, while attending Queen's University in Ontario, Canada; they married in 2000.[3] In 2002, their first child Nevada Musk died of sudden infant death syndrome at the age of 10 weeks.[4] After his death, the couple used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to continue their family;[5] they had twins in 2004, followed by triplets in 2006.[5] The couple divorced in 2008 and had shared custody of their children.[6][7]
In 2008, Musk began dating English actress Talulah Riley.[8] They married two years later at Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland.[9][10] In 2012, the couple divorced, before remarrying the following year.[11] After briefly filing for divorce in 2014,[11] Musk finalized a second divorce from Riley in 2016.[12] Musk then dated Amber Heard for several months in 2017;[13] he had reportedly been "pursuing" her since 2012.[14]
In 2018, Musk and Canadian musician Grimes said that they were dating.[15] Grimes gave birth to Musk's seventh child in May 2020.[16][17] In December 2021, Grimes and Musk had a second child together (Musk's tenth child), born via surrogacy.[18] Despite the pregnancy, Musk confirmed reports that the couple were "semi-separated" in September 2021; in an interview with Time in December 2021, he said he was single.[19][20] In March 2022, Grimes said of her relationship with Musk: "I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we're very fluid."[18] Later that month, Grimes tweeted that she and Musk had broken up again.[21] In September 2023 it was reported that the pair had had a third child (Musk's eleventh).[22] In October 2023, Grimes sued Musk over parental rights and custody of their eldest.[23][24][25]
In July 2022, Insider published court documents revealing that Musk had had his eighth and ninth children, twins born via IVF with Shivon Zilis, director of operations and special projects at Neuralink, in November 2021.[26] They were born weeks before Musk and Grimes had their second child via surrogacy in December. The news "raise[d] questions about workplace ethics", given that Zilis directly reported to Musk.[27] Zilis's third child together with Musk (his twelfth child) was born in early 2024 via surrogacy.[28][29]
Also in July 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk allegedly had an affair with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, in 2021, leading to their divorce the following year.[30] Musk denied the report.[31] Musk also had a relationship with Australian actress Natasha Bassett, who has been described as "an occasional girlfriend".[32] In October 2024, The New York Times reported Musk bought a Texas compound for his children and their mothers,[33] though Musk denied having done so.[34]
On February 14, 2025, Ashley St. Clair, an influencer and author, posted on X claiming to have given birth to Musk's son five months earlier, which media outlets reported as Musk's supposed thirteenth child.[35][36] On February 22, 2025 it was reported that St Clair had filed for sole custody of her five-month-old son and for Musk to be recognised as the child's father.[37][38] St. Clair's pleadings also requested child support be paid by Musk.[39]
Vivian Jenna Wilson (born 2004) is a college student studying languages, who is the eldest living child of Elon Musk and Justine Wilson. In 2022, she came out as a trans woman and officially changed her name,[40] adopting her mother's surname because she no longer wished to be associated with Musk.[40] Elon's former partner Grimes has defended Vivian, supported her transition, and has stated she is proud of Vivian for speaking out.[41][42]
Musk blamed the estrangement on what the Financial Times characterized as "the supposed takeover of elite schools and universities by neo-Marxists", and has said that Vivian's gender transition is primarily what sparked his drive to "destroy the woke mind virus".[49][50] In a July 2024 episode of Jordan Peterson's podcast, Musk said that he had "lost [his] son, essentially" because of gender-affirming care. He commented: "You know, they call it deadnaming for a reason. The reason it's called deadnaming is because your son is dead", stating that Vivian "is dead, killed by the woke mind virus".[51]
X Æ A-Xii Musk
Elon and X Æ A-Xii Musk, in the Oval Office, February 2025
X Æ A-Xii Musk was born in May 2020, the eldest child of Elon Musk and Grimes.[16][17] Musk and Grimes originally gave the baby the name "X Æ A-12", which would have violated California regulations as it contained characters (Arabic numerals) that are not in the modern English alphabet,[52][53] which they then changed to "X Æ A-Xii".[54][55] They have received criticism for choosing a name perceived to be impractical and difficult to pronounce.[56]
Errol Graham Musk is a South African politician and businessman,[58] who was elected as an independent to represent Sunnyside on the Pretoria City Council in 1972.[59]
Musk had a lucrative engineering business which took on "large projects such as office buildings, retail complexes, residential subdivisions, and an air force base." He also owned an auto parts store, at least half a share in an emerald mine, and even "one of the biggest houses in Pretoria"[60][61] He was married to Maye Musk from 1970 to 1979.[62][63] Maye's book recalls that at the time of the divorce, he owned two homes, a yacht, a plane, five luxury cars, and a truck.[64]
In the early 1990s, Errol, then aged 45, married Heide Bezuidenhout, a 25-year old he described as "one of the best looking women I've ever seen in my life".[65] They had two children.[66] Jana Bezuidenhout, who later became his romantic partner, was his stepdaughter from that marriage, four years old at the time Errol became her stepfather.[66][67]
Maye Musk (née Haldeman; born April 19, 1948)[68] is a model, dietitian and author.[69][70] She has been a model for 50 years, appearing on the covers of magazines, including a Time magazine health edition, Women's Day, international editions of Vogue, and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She is the mother of Elon Musk, Kimbal Musk and Tosca Musk.[71] She holds Canadian, South African, and American citizenship. She is a registered dietitian. She published her memoir, A Woman Makes a Plan in 2019.
Grandparents of Elon Musk
Errol Musk's mother, Cora Amelia Robinson, was English from Edge Hill, Liverpool, and his father, Walter Henry James Musk, was English-South African.[72][58][73][74]
Maye Musk's parents were Winnifred Josephine "Wyn" (Fletcher) and Joshua Norman Haldeman.
The Haldeman couple spent time searching for the Lost City of the Kalahari by plane.[79] Haldeman's mother Almeda Jane (Norman) Haldeman was the first recorded chiropractor in Canada.[78]
Wyn Fletcher
Winnifred Josephine Fletcher (1914–2012) was born in Moose Jaw, Canada, to English parents. Her older sister Kay Fletcher married the Canadian ice hockey player Elmer Lach.[80]
He owns The Kitchen Restaurant Group, a collection of restaurants located in Colorado and Chicago.[82] He is the co-founder and chairman of Big Green, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has built hundreds of outdoor classrooms called Learning Gardens in schoolyards across America.[83][84][85] Musk is also the co-founder and chairman of Square Roots, an urban farming company growing food in hydroponic, indoor, climate controlled shipping containers.[86][87][88] Musk currently sits on the boards of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, both of which his brother Elon is the current CEO.[89] He is a major shareholder in Tesla.[90] He was on the board of Chipotle Mexican Grill[91] from 2013 to 2019.[92]
In 1995 he co-founded, with his brother, Elon Musk, the software company Zip2, which was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999.
Kimbal Musk was married to Jen Lewin, with whom he established The Kitchen, from 2001 to 2010. The couple had two children together.[93] In April 2018, he married Christiana Wyly, an environmental activist and the daughter of ex-billionaire Sam Wyly.[94]
Musk also has a daughter from another relationship.[95] One of his children is transgender.[96]
She is an executive producer and director of feature films, television programs, and web content. Her work includes K. Bromberg's Driven, Rachel van Dyken's Matchmaker's Playbook, and her web series, Tiki Bar TV.[98][99] She co-founded the streaming service Passionflix.
Lyndon Robert Rive (born 22 January 1977) is a South African-American businessman known as the co-founder of SolarCity, and its CEO until 2016. SolarCity is a provider of photovoltaic systems and related services. Rive co-founded SolarCity with his brother Peter in 2006. He is a cousin of Elon Musk; his mother Kaye Rive is the twin sister of Maye Musk.[100]
Rive started his first company at age 17 before leaving his native country, South Africa.[101] He then co-founded the enterprise software company Everdream, which was ultimately acquired by Dell.[102] In 2010, Rive was named in the MIT Technology Review'sInnovators Under 35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.[103]
Rive's parents were entrepreneurs in the natural-health business in Pretoria, South Africa. Rive has three siblings: SolarCity co-founder Peter Rive, Russ Rive who runs an art, technology, and design company in Brazil, and competitive dirt bike rider Almeda Rive[de].[104]
Further reading
Musk, Maye (December 31, 2019) A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success Penguin Random House
Isaacson, Walter (September 12, 2023) Elon Musk Simon and Schuster
↑ Friend, Tad (October 10, 2014). "Plugged In - The New Yorker". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2024.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
