Shivon Zilis Reveals Breakup With Elon Musk, Cites Sudden End to Relationship

Shivon Zilis, an executive at Elon Musk's brain implant startup Neuralink and mother to four of his children, announced on Friday that the billionaire has ended their relationship. Zilis shared her feelings in a lengthy post on X, formerly Twitter, stating the breakup occurred abruptly and without warning.

"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," Zilis, 40, wrote. She added, "it’s hard to go from in love to let go in a week." Despite her hurt, Zilis expressed deep gratitude for their children and hopes for a continued friendship and co-parenting relationship.

Zilis indicated she was surprised by the end of the relationship, sharing screenshots of text messages exchanged with Musk as recently as September 24, where they exchanged affectionate language. A cryptic social media post by Zilis on September 28, reading "New day, new life," may have signaled a shift.

Earlier on Friday, the account Big Tech Alert noted that Musk had unfollowed Zilis on X, a platform he owns. Musk, 55, has not yet publicly commented on the breakup.

Zilis, who holds a position at Neuralink, met Musk through OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company he co-founded. She testified in Musk's case against OpenAI earlier this year, detailing how their relationship evolved from a "one-off" encounter to a friendship. She later accepted Musk's offer to be a platonic sperm donor for her children.

The couple's children include twins Strider and Azure, born in November 2021, followed by Arcadia in June 2024, and Seldon Lycurgus in February 2025. Zilis previously worked on Tesla's Autopilot team before moving to Neuralink.