Topline
Billionaire Elon Musk and his longtime co-parent Shivon Zilis, a top executive at of Musk’s Neuralink, appear to have ended their relationship after welcoming four children in five years via in vitro fertilization.
Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis on Feb. 1, 2026.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Zilis, director of operations and special projects at Neuralink, posted to X Friday morning to say she’d been “let go” from her relationship with Musk.
Zilis, responding to a tweet noting Musk had unfollowed her from the platform, said “I’m hurting, but care deeply about E and will always be cheering for his happiness.”
The pair have been in an unconventional relationship—Zilis was described by biographer Walter Isaacson as Musk’s intellectual companion rather than a conventional romantic partner—since at least 2021, when they quietly welcomed twins, Strider and Azure, via IVF.
They had a third child together, a daughter named Arcadia, in 2024 and a fourth, a son named Seldon Lycurgus, in 2025.
Zilis testified in federal court earlier this year and clarified the nature of their dynamic, explaining they had a brief romantic “one-off“ in 2016, transitioned to become close friends and colleagues and later proceeded with IVF co-parenting.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“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,” Zilis posted Friday. “I will miss him dearly.”
Key Background
Zilis, a Yale graduate with a background in machine learning and artificial intelligence, worked at Tesla from 2017 to 2019 and joined OpenAI as an official advisor in 2016. While testifying in a lawsuit between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman earlier this year, she said their relationship began with “a one-off” at a corporate off-site event after she started at OpenAI. When she later decided to have children as a single mother, Musk “offered to make a donation” as a platonic sperm donor and their relationship then evolved into a romantic partnership. She joined the OpenAI board in 2020 and left in 2023, after Musk founded rival company xAI.
WHAT DID SHIVON ZILIS SAY ABOUT HER BREAKUP FROM ELON MUSK?
“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 🤷🏻♀️
I feel happy that I got to show Elon how it feels to be deeply understood, nurtured, and peacefully loved with stability and gentleness. 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.
We were always his safe space. A place where all of us were overjoyed to see him and one that was always full of happiness and love, not war, in contrast to his otherwise militant existence (a needed break from the battlefield where he could recharge his heart and soul before heading back out)
I loved being that counterbalancing place of safety, sense of calm, and love — and delighted in bringing a smile back to his face when he was down. I will miss him dearly.
I’ve loved him more than life itself and he’s taught me 100 lifetimes of knowledge and made my cup overflow with life meaning, so there is a lot of loss, but luckily we created four beautiful little loves of my life ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I am so beyond grateful for our children and they make every single day the best day of my life! I do hope and pray he and I can be great friends and coparents.
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.”
TANGENT
She posted her statement alongside a screenshot of a text between the pair dated Sept. 24. She told him, “It was really wonderful to see you for breakfast. Love you very much 💕.” He responded “Love you too” and then sent a follow up text about the high-profile White House state dinner for Chinese leader Xi Jinping he would be attending later that day. “I didn’t realize that this Xi dinner included significant other (Beijing one did not) or I would have invited you,” he wrote. “Aw, that means so much to me. Thank you ❤️” Zilis responded.
BIG NUMBER
14. That’s how many children Elon Musk has, with four different women.
FORBES VALUATION
Musk is the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $972 billion on Friday. He briefly became the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX went public this summer, and the bulk of his fortune comes from SpaceX and Tesla. He’s a cofounder of seven companies, including xAI, Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company and brain implant outfit Neuralink.
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