Musk's Partner Reveals Sudden Breakup Just a Week After Saying "I Love You"

Separation from Zilis, Mother of Four Children
Zilis: "Parting without warning is difficult, but sometimes these things happen"

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and Shivon Zilis, an executive at Neuralink, have publicly revealed their breakup.

Photo of Elon Musk (center), CEO of Tesla, with Sabon Zilis and children. Screenshot from X (formerly Twitter)

On October 2 (local time), Zilis referenced a post on her X account (formerly Twitter) in which Musk had unfollowed her, saying, "It's hard to break up while in love without any warning after just one week, but sometimes things happen that way."

She continued, "I'm happy that I could show Elon what it feels like to be deeply understood and to love calmly in stability and kindness," and added, "I hope I had a positive influence on him for a long time." Zilis also said, "I loved him more than my own life," but expressed her hope that they would remain good friends and co-parents going forward.

She also released a message exchange with Musk from September 24, about one week earlier, which included the words "I love you." The specific reason for the breakup was not disclosed.

Zilis has been Musk's romantic partner and long-time business associate. After working at Tesla, she served as a director at OpenAI and is currently an executive at Neuralink, a neuro-implant technology company. Until recently, she had accompanied Musk on many major public engagements.

The pair had twins, Strider and Azure, through in vitro fertilization in November 2021. Their third child, Arcadia, was born in 2024, and news of their fourth child, Lycurgus, was made public last year. Lycurgus is also Musk's 14th child. Musk has not issued any official statement regarding the breakup.

In May, Zilis also took the witness stand in a lawsuit involving OpenAI, testifying as someone who had helped coordinate the opinions of early co-founders. When asked whether she frequently discussed alternative governance structures for early OpenAI, she replied, "To the point of exhaustion." Her comments were at odds with Musk's claim that OpenAI deceived him and betrayed its non-profit founding purpose.

Meanwhile, Musk has a total of 14 publicly known children by four different women. He has also had public disputes with the mothers of his children in the past. With the singer Grimes, the mother of three of his children, Musk has been involved in legal battles over custody. Ashley St. Clair, another mother of his children, claimed she rejected a $40 million non-disclosure agreement proposed by Musk's side. His first wife, Justine Wilson, testified in director Alex Gibney’s documentary "Musk" that Musk referred to the women who bore his children as "breeders."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.