Elon Musk had a momentary affair last fall with the wife of Sergey Brin, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, foremost the Google co-founder to file for divorce earlier this year. The affair ended Musk and Brin’s previously close relationship, according to the Journal’s report. Musk has rejected the report as a “hit piece.”
Brin and his wife, Nicole Shanahan, separated but still living together at the time of the affair in December, a person closes to her told the Journal. Brin, who married Shanahan in 2018, filed for divorce in January, citing “irreconcilable differences,” numerous weeks after knowledge of the affair, the Journal reported.
Musk forbidden the Journal’s report in a tweet, calling it “total bs.”
“Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!” Musk tweeted. “I’ve only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic.”
Elon Musk’s allegedly banged Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s wife leading to the couple’s divorce filing. The two are apparently no longer friends. @elonmusk https://t.co/87JEc3fSe6
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) July 24, 2022
Musk and Brin had been longtime friends, with Musk allegedly often sleeping at Brin’s Silicon Valley home. Brin, who’s worth $95 billion, made numerous investments in Tesla since the company formed in 2003. Alongside Larry Page, Brin funded to a $40 million funding round in 2006. When Tesla was facing a cash crunch in 2008, Musk sent appeals to numerous friends for investments, rendering to Ashlee Vance in his 2015 biography on Musk. Brin invested $500,000.
The Journal reported that Musk apologized to Brin at a party previous this year but that Brin, despite recognizing the apology, isn’t on regular speaking terms with Musk.
Musk, in a following tweet, called the article a “Tesla hit piece.”
News of the alleged affair comes at a turbulent time for the Tesla and SpaceX founder and CEO, who’s also the richest person on the planet. Earlier this month, Twitter sued Musk to comprehensive his proposed $44 billion purchase of the social media platform after he informed Twitter he was ending the agreement to buy the company.
Around the same time, it exposed that Musk and one of his top managers secretly had twins in November. Musk has also fought claims that SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 to resolve allegations that the billionaire visible himself to her throughout a flight.
Musk didn’t instantaneously respond to a request for comment. Neither Brin nor Shanahan, who runs a foundation attentive on reproductive justice, could directly be reached for comment.