In the wake of this week’s announcement that billionaire Elon Musk and actress Talulah Riley are divorcing, for the second time, Page Six took a look back at his first wife author Justine Musk’s account of their marriage.
“As we danced at our wedding reception, Elon told me, ‘I am the alpha in this relationship,’” Justine, who was wed to the mogul from 2000 to 2008, wrote in a Marie Claire article. “I shrugged it off, just as I would later shrug off signing the postnuptial agreement . . . Elon’s judgment overruled mine, and he was constantly remarking on the ways he found me lacking,” she continues, saying he told her, “If you were my employee . . . I would fire you.” She goes on, “Elon was obsessed with his work: When he was home, his mind was elsewhere. I longed for deep and heartfelt conversations . . . I sacrificed a normal family life for his career.”
She continues, “Eight years after I signed the postnup, I began to understand just what I’d done. I had effectively signed away all my rights as a married person.”
Musk wrote in response that “my ex-wife . . . contributes frequently to the public literature on the divorce,” and insisted he met Riley after filing for divorce.
He added he had offered Justine a settlement “equivalent to a pre-tax income of $80 million,” which she rejected, and he pays all expenses for their kids plus $20,000 (after taxes) per month. She also got the family home in Bel Air.