Ever since Elon Musk became the richest man in the world, his private life has never really been that private. Away from strained relationships with his father and allegations of drug abuse while in positions of political power, it's the many women from his past who tend to turn up with the juiciest tidbits about secret children and what it was like being attached to the tech mogul.
In a resurfaced interview, ex-wife Justine Wilson has opened up about a 'traumatic incident' involving her and Elon Musk, ultimately claiming it led to their divorce in 2008. Having been married to Justine Wilson from 2000 to 2008, he then married actor Talulah Riley in 2008, divorced her in 2012, then remarried in 2013 and divorced again in 2016. He's since been linked to rapper Grimes, shares four children with Shivon Zillis, and supposedly fathered a secret fourteenth child with MAGA influencer Ashley St. Clair.
In a 2010 Marie Claire op-ed titled "America's Messiest Divorce" (via Indy100), Wilson explained how a red flag appeared at their January 2000 wedding reception when he told his wife: "I am the alpha in this relationship."
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He later reportedly said to her, “If you were my employee, I would fire you."
However, she opened up about what 'sucked' the most about their eight-year marriage,
Wilson says, "I barely recognized myself," after Musk told her to adopt a 'Hollywood look': "I had turned into a trophy wife—and I sucked at it. I wasn’t detail-oriented enough to maintain a perfect house or be a perfect hostess. I could no longer hide my boredom when the men talked and the women smiled and listened."
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Things culminated in a traumatic spring 2008 car accident that the former Mrs. Musk says made everything clear: "My first thought wasn't, 'Thank God nobody's hurt'. It was, 'My husband is going to kill me'.
“And in my mind's eye, I could suddenly see myself: a woman who'd gotten very thin, and very blonde, stumbling out of a very expensive car with the front-left wheel smashed in."
She says that she sat on their bed in the aftermath and told her husband that something needed to change: "I didn't want to be a sideline player in the multimillion-dollar spectacle of my husband's life. I wanted equality. I wanted partnership. I wanted to love and be loved, the way we had before he made all his millions."
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Although the pair entered counseling, Wilson says it only lasted one month and three sessions before he gave her an ultimatum: "Either we fix this marriage today or I will divorce you tomorrow."
After he filed for divorce the next day, Wilson admitted: "I felt numb, but strangely relieved."
Looking back at their marriage, Wilson says she's worked through a lot of 'anger' at both herself and her husband. She claimed that she deals with matters involving their children through an assistant of his, and as well as having no regrets when it comes to their divorce, she concluded that she will "always respect the brilliant and visionary person that he is."