Elon Musk’s longtime girlfriend and mother of four of his children has dramatically announced their breakup on X.
Shivon Zilis’ lengthy post came after an account that tracks Musk’s X account flagged that the world’s richest man had unfollowed her—an act that appears to have been the final straw for his Neuralink executive girlfriend.
“It’s hard to go from in love to let go in a week with no warning, but that’s just how it is sometimes 🤷🏻♀️,” she wrote, including a screenshot of her and Musk exchanging “I love yous” just a week ago.
Zilis, 40, went on to gush over having had the opportunity to date the mercurial billionaire, 55, who has at least 14 children with four women. Musk had one of his alleged children, Romulus St. Clair, with the MAGA influencer Ashley St. Clair. Romulus was born in September 2024, as Zilis was pregnant with her and Musk’s fourth child.
“I feel happy that I got to show Elon how it feels to be deeply understood, nurtured, and peacefully loved with stability and gentleness,” Zilis wrote. “Given the tumultuous nature of his early life, his often tortured soul, and how hard he fights for humanity, I wanted him to feel the deepest and most stable form of love this world can provide. My heart is full knowing I got to do that, and I hope it leaves a lasting good effect.”
The nearly-300 word post concluded, “I’m hurting, but care deeply about E and will always be cheering for his happiness. God speed, Elon, the world is lucky to have you.”
An earlier post by Zilis hinted last week that the couple may be having trouble. Just three days after Musk attended a state dinner at the White House without a date, Zilis cryptically wrote on X, “New day, new life.”
The SpaceX mogul attended the event alone, unlike other tech billionaires who attended with their spouses. Jeff Bezos arrived with his wife, Lauren Sanchez; Michael Dell with Susan Dell; and David Ellison with his wife, Sandra Lynn Ellison.
Musk claimed in a text to Zilis that he did not know he could not bring her along.
“I didn’t realize that this Xi dinner included significant other (Beijing one did not) or I would have invited you,” he wrote, according to a screenshot shared by Zilis.
In the screenshot, Zilis did not appear upset with her snub.
“Aw, that means so much to me,” she responded. “Thank you ❤️.”
A Musk representative did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Musk and Zilis, who is director of operations and special projects at Musk’s Neuralink, have had an unorthodox relationship. Then a venture capitalist at Bloomberg Beta, she was introduced to Musk through connections in the AI industry and at OpenAI, where he was a co-founder and initial board member. From there, she joined OpenAI’s board and later worked for Musk at Tesla.
Musk and Zilis had twins together in 2021—when Musk was still dating the Canadian musician Grimes, with whom he has three children. Grimes lashed out at Zilis after news of the twins became public in September 2023, but the pair made peace after speaking directly.
“We respect each other a lot, and we’re excited to become friends and have the kids grow up together,” Grimes wrote on X.
In Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography of Musk, he wrote that Musk offered himself as a sperm donor to Zilis, who was happy to have Musk’s genes for her first pregnancy, even if they were not actively involved romantically.
“If the choice is between an anonymous sperm donor or doing it with the person you admire most in the world, for me that was a pretty f---ing easy decision,” she told Isaacson. “I couldn’t possibly think of genes I would prefer for my children.”
It is not known when the relationship became romantic.
Zilis and Musk welcomed their third child in February 2024, and their fourth in February 2025—a month after she attended Inauguration Day festivities with him in Washington.
