Elon Musk Reportedly Had an Affair with Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin’s Wife

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk allegedly had an affair last fall with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Sergey Brin, prompting the Google co-founder to file for divorce earlier this year and ending the tech billionaires' long friendship.

Musk and Shanahan's affair allegedly occurred at the high-profile Art Basel event in Miami following Musk's split with then-girlfriend Claire Boucher, also known as Grimes, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

According to sources, Brin and Shanahan were separated but still living together at the time. The couple's relationship was reportedly strained due to issues related to the Covid-19 lockdowns and their three-year-old daughter.

Brin and Musk had been close friends. Brin offered the Musk-owned Tesla $500,000 in funding during the 2008 recession, and Musk returned the favor by making Brin one of the first customers to own the Model X in 2015.

Musk went so far as to get on one knee and beg Brin for his forgiveness during a party earlier this year, said sources. 

The report claims the two still aren't speaking on a frequent basis, and that Brin has told advisers to sell his personal investments in Musk's companies.

However, Elon Musk denied the allegation.

"This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night! I've only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic," Musk tweeted on Monday (25 July).  

Elon Musk's personal life is never far removed from his business. Earlier this month, a report revealed that Musk had twins with Shivon Zillis, a top executive at his company Neuralink and a former employee of Tesla. The twins were born just weeks before a surrogate gave birth to Musk and Boucher's second child, bringing Musk's number of known children to nine.

In May, a former SpaceX flight attendant accused the company of paying her $250,000 to keep quiet about an incident involving Musk. The victim claims Musk asked her for a massage, exposed himself to her, and propositioned her for sex.

Sergey Brin, meanwhile, was once called "the Google playboy" for his sexual involvement with employees, with human resources manager Heather Cairns calling his behavior "a sexual harassment claim waiting to happen."