It is on X, the social network of his now ex-partner, that Shivon Zilis chose to tell everything. This Friday, October 2, the director of operations of Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain implant company, announced in a tweet that the first billionaire in history had ended their relationship. “It’s hard to go from mad love to breaking up in a week, without warning, but sometimes, that’s how it is,” writes the 40-year-old Canadian, mother of four children of the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, all conceived by in vitro fertilization.
Usually discreet, Shivon Zilis has this time decided to speak out. Not to settle scores but to respond to the “scoop” from Big Tech Alert, an automated account which monitors the activity of tech bosses on X. Earlier in the morning, the latter noted a detail: Elon Musk was no longer following his partner. Enough to trigger speculation.
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“His haven of peace”
On the reasons for the breakup, Shivon Zilis says nothing. Not a word of reproach. Rather, she signs a farewell letter to a man with an “often tortured” soul. “I am happy to have been able to introduce Elon to what it is like to be deeply understood, pampered and loved serenely, with peace, stability and gentleness,” she wrote. “Given his chaotic childhood, his often tortured soul and the fierceness with which he fights for humanity, I wanted him to experience the deepest and strongest form of love there is in this world.”
She and their children, she insists, were her refuge. “We have always been his safe haven.” “A place where we were all over the moon to see him and which was always overflowing with happiness and love, without any war, in contrast to his life spent on the front (…) and I was delighted to make him smile again when he was at his lowest.” Melancholy, Shivon Zilis continues: “I will miss him terribly.”
The children remain: the twins Strider and Azure, born in 2021, as well as Arcadia and Seldon Lycurgus, born in 2024 and 2025 respectively. “There is a lot of loss, but fortunately we had the four wonderful little loves of my life together,” continues Shivon Zilis. She says she hopes, and “prays,” that they remain “very good friends and good co-parents.” Then to conclude: “I’m in pain, but E. means a lot to me and I would always wish for her happiness. Good luck, Elon, the world is lucky to have you.”
“I love you” eight days ago
Shivon Zilis attached a screenshot to his message, revealing a recent exchange. The text messages date from September 24 and there is nothing to announce the breakup. “It was really wonderful having breakfast with you. I love you very much,” sends Shivon Zilis. “I love you too,” replied Elon Musk. The same evening, he attended the state dinner given at the White House in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping. He adds: “I didn’t know that spouses were invited to this dinner with Xi (this was not the case for the one in Beijing), otherwise I would have invited you.” “Oh, that means a lot to me. Thank you,” she says.
On X, Shivon Zilis' publication divides. Some praise his dignity, others criticize him for displaying private exchanges. “I will never understand why Elon's exes are exposing their breakup on his own network. It only concerns the two of you,” says an Internet user. Alexandr Wang, head of AI at Meta, whom Musk had also stopped following, for his part cracked a laconic “girl been there” (understand, “my dear, I’ve been there”). Asked by the American press, neither the billionaire nor Neuralink reacted on Friday.
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Mole at OpenAI?
A graduate of Yale, specialist in artificial intelligence (AI), Shivon Zilis has been in the billionaire's orbit for ten years. Advisor to OpenAI since 2016, she moved to Tesla from 2017 to 2019, then sat on the board of directors of OpenAI from 2020 to 2023. She withdrew after the creation of xAI, the rival AI company launched by Musk. In recent months, she was still seen on his arm at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's residence in Palm Beach.
In May, the lawsuit filed by Elon Musk against Sam Altman, boss of OpenAI, in federal court in Oakland, lifted the veil on his role. A few days before his testimony, Musk hesitated on the words to describe her: alternately “chief of staff”, “close advisor”, then “we live together and she is the mother of four of my children”. Zilis, for her part, specified in testimony that he was more of a “regular guest”. The Canadian also kept the paternity of her children a secret for a long time, until a journalist from Business Insider contacted her to announce the imminent publication of the information.
But it was her ambiguous role that she had to explain to the courts in May. OpenAI's lawyer then unearthed an SMS from February 16, 2018, a few days before Musk's departure from the board: "Would you prefer that I remain close and friendly towards OpenAI to ensure the circulation of information, or that I begin to dissociate myself from it?" Musk's response: “Close and friendly, but we will actively try to bring three or four people from OpenAI to Tesla.” In April 2018, she wrote to her boss and companion again: “If you prefer that I devote more hours to monitoring OpenAI, let me know.” Stranger, she also advised Sam Altman in his relations with Musk. In October 2022, the boss of OpenAI forwarded a furious text message from the billionaire. “Don’t answer right away,” she warns him. Conclusion of the OpenAI defense: thanks to Zilis, Musk knew everything.
