Elon Musk alleged affair with Google co-founder's wife prompted divorce: report
Musk reportedly had brief rendezvous with wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin
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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s alleged affair with the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin prompted the couple’s divorce earlier this year, according to a report published Sunday.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Brin, who along with Larry Page co-founded Google in 1998, filed for divorce from his wife of nearly four years, Nicole Shanahan, in January, just weeks after learning that she had a brief affair with Musk in December.
Citing several people familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported that liaison between Musk and Shanahan happened during the Art Basel event in Miami – and shortly after Brin and his wife separated but were still living together.
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The divorce filing in Santa Clara County Superior Court cites "irreconcilable differences." As mediation continues, Shanahan is seeking $1 billion, far more than she is entitled under her prenuptial agreement. But her lawyers say she signed the prenuptial agreement under duress while pregnant with their now 3-year-old daughter and that $1 billion is just a small fraction of Brin’s $95 billion fortune.
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Musk has reportedly apologized to Brin and begged for forgiveness, but their once close friendship has taken a turn as Brin over the past several months has ordered his financial advisers to sell off his personal investments in Musk’s companies.
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The Journal reported that Brin gave Musk $500,000 to use to help keep Tesla afloat during the 2008 financial crisis, and in return, Musk gifted Brin one of Tesla’s first all-electric sport-utility vehicles in 2015. Musk also regularly stayed at Brin’s Silicon Valley home.
Musk is the wealthiest person in the world with an estimated $240 billion fortune. With an estimated $95 billion fortune himself, Brin is the eighth-richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg.
Musk is embroiled in a legal fight with Twitter after backing out of a $44 billion acquisition deal earlier this month. His personal life has also taken the spotlight after news emerged that he fathered twins with Shivon Zilis, a senior executive at one of his companies, Neuralink, who were born last fall.
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Last fall, Musk also called it quits with his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Claire Boucher, known as the singer Grimes, but the two still welcomed their second child via surrogate in December. In June, another of Musk’s children sought a gender change to female and to cut ties with her father.