Elon Musk’s scandalous dating history - including his 12 children with 3 women

Elon Musk has 12 children with three women (Image: Getty/Instagram)

Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter), is known as much for his technological ambitions as he is for his tumultuous and highly publicised personal life.

Over the years, Musk has been linked to several high-profile relationships, marriages, and breakups.

He is also a father of 12 children with three women, making his personal life as unpredictable as his career moves.

Elon Musk has five children with his first wife, Justine Wilson (Image: Getty)

Justine Wilson

Musk’s first marriage was to Canadian author Justine Wilson. The couple met while attending Queen’s University in Ontario and tied the knot in 2000.

They welcomed their first child, Nevada Alexander, in 2002, but tragedy struck when Nevada died of sudden infant death syndrome at 10 weeks old.

Determined to grow their family, Musk and Wilson turned to IVF, which resulted in twins Griffin and Xavier in 2004 and triplets Damian, Saxon, and Kai in 2006.

Despite their growing family, their marriage ended in 2008, with Wilson later describing their relationship as controlling and emotionally taxing.

Talulah Riley

Shortly after his divorce from Wilson, Musk began dating British actress Talulah Riley. The couple married in 2010, but their relationship was far from smooth. They divorced in 2012, only to remarry in 2013. However, their second attempt at marital bliss ended in another divorce in 2016.

Riley has spoken positively about Musk despite their rocky history, describing their split as amicable and Musk as a unique and intense partner.

Elon Musk and Grimes have three children together (Image: Getty)

Grimes

In 2018, Musk began dating Canadian musician Grimes (Claire Boucher). The pairing made headlines for their shared eccentricities, with Grimes even changing her Twitter bio to include a reference to artificial intelligence during their early romance.

In 2020, the couple welcomed their first child, a son famously named X Æ A-12 Musk, later modified to X AE A-Xii to comply with California law. Despite their public displays of affection and shared interest in pushing boundaries, Musk and Grimes reportedly “semi-separated” in 2021.

Their unconventional relationship continued to make headlines when, in December 2021, it was revealed they had quietly welcomed a second child, a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, via surrogate.

They also have a third child together, Techno Mechanicus, who was born in 2022. This child, nicknamed "Tau", was also kept a secret until 2023.

Shivon Zilis

In 2022, Musk’s private life became even more scandalous when court documents revealed that he had secretly fathered twins with Shivon Zilis, a director at his company Neuralink. The twins were born in late 2021, just weeks before the birth of Musk’s second child with Grimes.

Zilis, known for her work in artificial intelligence and her high-ranking role at Neuralink, has kept her personal life under wraps, but the revelation of their children sparked discussions about Musk’s workplace relationships and power dynamics.

Amber Heard and Elon Musk were in an on-again off-again relationship in 2016 and 2018. (Image: Instagram)

Amber Heard and other high-profile romances

Musk has also been linked to actress Amber Heard, with whom he had an on-again, off-again relationship between 2016 and 2018. Their romance followed Heard’s high-profile divorce from Johnny Depp, and Musk later defended Heard publicly during her legal battles with Depp.

Rumors of other flings, including with Australian actress Natasha Bassett, have also surfaced over the years, but Musk has largely kept his next relationships private.

Musk’s love life has frequently been criticised for its complexity and apparent contradictions. In 2022, Musk claimed his decision to have a large family was driven by his concerns about declining global birth rates, a statement that sparked controversy given the personal and professional dynamics of his relationships.

Also in 2022, his daughter Vivian, born during his marriage to Justine Wilson, filed legal documents to change her name and gender, stating that she no longer wished to be associated with Musk.