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Elon Musk’s relationship history is full of strange and surprising romances. While the billionaire businessman was dealing with his divorce from his first wife, Justine Musk, in 2008, his path crossed with that of Talulah Riley. In Ashlee Vance’s biography, “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future,” he revealed that the PayPal co-founder had met his second wife at a fancy nightclub in London. Meanwhile, Riley also recalled her first impression of Elon, admitting, “I remember thinking that this guy probably didn’t get to talk to young actresses a lot and that he seemed quite nervous.” She continued, “I decided to be really nice to him and give him a nice evening. Little did I know that he’d spoken to a lot of pretty girls in his life,” (via Business Insider).
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The “Pride and Prejudice” star confirmed that the unlikely pair bonded fairly quickly, and Elon got major brownie points for being utterly disinterested in the models he was being introduced to throughout the night and solely focusing on her instead. During a 2012 chat with The Standard, Riley shared that she had only dated one man prior to the Tesla owner and was actually a virgin when they met. The British actor gushed that Elon always went all out to show her how much he loved her. In fact, Elon made Riley’s day by sending 500 roses to the set of her movie “St. Trinian’s” and inviting the London Community Gospel Choir to their home to greet her with “Happy Birthday” on the morning of the actor’s special day. Given all this, it’s unsurprising they had a whirlwind romance.
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Musk and Riley endured a couple of weird Christmases
Elon Musk popped the question to Talulah Riley after only 10 days of courtship in 2008. However, the happy couple only said their “I dos” at the Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland in 2010. In the 2022 documentary “The Elon Musk Show,” Riley disclosed that even though her husband had showered her with gifts throughout their relationship, he somehow forgot to get her a Christmas present. Musk sheepishly came clean about his error to his then-wife, reasoning, “It’s not that I don’t love you — I do really, really love you. It’s just that my brain is exploding,” per Benzinga. To make matters worse, they were essentially snowed into their Colorado home for the holidays.
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However, the controversial X owner didn’t let that stop him and Musk quickly braved the inclement weather to rectify his error. “He came back with a little bouquet, and he was like, ‘I just wanted to show you how much I loved you,'” the “Westworld” star confirmed. The gesture was made even sweeter (or wilder) by the fact that Musk walked through the snow and handpicked the perfect flowers for his wife. While Riley was obviously touched by the gesture, she couldn’t help but tease Musk about his slip-up. As the British actor proudly told The Standard, she gave the billionaire a stocking full of coal for Christmas in 2011 as a hilarious rebuke and callback.
While he was understandably annoyed, at least initially, the entrepreneur lit up when she surprised Musk with his real gifts. Riley also looked forward to spending Christmas 2012 with Musk’s many children as well as a Labrador puppy from “Marley & Me 2” at the swanky Skibo Castle in Scotland.
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They had a weird reason for reconciling after their split
In January 2012, Elon Musk took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to announce that he and Talulah Riley were sadly parting ways. The SpaceX founder added that he would always think back on their time together fondly and, more pertinently, would “love [her] forever.” While speaking to Forbes shortly thereafter, Musk explained that their marriage ended simply because they had grown apart. They initially parted ways for six months to see if they could rekindle their spark, but it hadn’t done them any good. Still, against all odds, Riley and Musk found their way back to each other in 2013 and once again tied the knot.
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During a 2022 interview with The Independent, the British actor acknowledged that although many people likely found their relationship dynamic odd, the couple’s love looked different to them. However, she only made things more bizarre by describing the motivation for their reconciliation as: “I suppose the reason to get remarried was just because it felt silly to be together unmarried after having been married.”
Riley also shrugged, “You know, it’s like a habit. We were saying, ‘This is my husband.’ ‘This is my wife.’ ‘Oh, wait, no, we’re not that anymore. We better be that again.'” Their union apparently endured another rough patch in 2014 as the billionaire filed for divorce on New Year’s Eve. Although Musk dismissed the filings seven months later, they ultimately called it quits for good in 2016. They once again tried a 6-month trial separation before divorcing.
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Talulah Riley was willing to give their relationship a third shot
When Talulah Riley spoke to the Daily Mail following her 2016 split from Elon Musk, the actor admitted that she wouldn’t turn her nose up at the idea of reconciling with her ex-husband. “I mean, never say never,” Riley said at the time. “Marriage is a social construct, but I still believe in it. Elon and I are best friends. We still see each other all the time and take care of each other.” While Musk looked after his ex-wife emotionally, he notably also supported her financially through the hefty divorce settlements she received. Riley walked away a whopping $4.2 million richer from their first divorce. Meanwhile, their second split added a whopping $16 million to her bottom line. Given all this, it’s unsurprising that the British star has subtly come to her ex-husband’s defense many times.
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In “The Elon Musk Show,” for instance, she claimed that the controversial businessman was a more emotional person than most people gave him credit for. Likewise, during a 2024 chat with The Times, Riley argued that the media didn’t always portray Musk in a realistic light, typically to serve their cynical narratives. However, when the outlet questioned whether the billionaire’s true self was hidden from the public view, she answered, “I loved/love the guy, so I’m incredibly subjective in my opinion, cannot be unbiased and shouldn’t be expected to be either.” However, social media commentators found the “Boat That Rocked” star’s continuing love for and support of Musk odd, given that Riley’s been in a relationship with Thomas Brodie-Sangster since 2021, and they tied the knot in 2024.
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Elon Musk’s ex-wife may have played a role in his decision to buy Twitter
In April 2022, Elon Musk officially started his infamous bid to buy the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and wound up shelling out $44 billion in October to seal the deal. However, a couple of weeks before the takeover concluded, it was widely reported that Talulah Riley may have influenced the SpaceX founder’s pricey decision. In March, Musk received a text from a “TJ” (presumably an acronym of Talulah Jane) that read, “Can you buy Twitter and then delete it, please!? xx” (via Bloomberg). In another text, she ranted about the satirical account Babylon Bee’s suspension from the social media platform.
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Later, The Telegraph reported that the woman who married and divorced Musk twice had sent him another text warning, “[Twitter is] very easy to exploit and is being used by radicals for social engineering on a massive scale. And this s*** is infecting the world. Please do something to fight woke-ism.” It’s entirely possible that Riley also grew tired of watching outlandish rumors about their relationship spread like wildfire on the platform. In 2020, an X commentator posted an older photo of Musk standing beside Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2022.
After Musk defended himself against the implications of the picture, Riley stepped in and dispelled the rumor that “Maxwell procured [her] as some kind of child bride for Elon.” The British star insisted that she hadn’t met Maxell, and she was 22 when her path first crossed with Musk’s. Riley ended the post by complaining that she was deeply disheartened to see such serious yet baseless accusations floating around X.
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Their relationship has several other strange details too
Although most of us only noticed the many strange things about Elon Musk and Talulah Riley’s relationship after their (last?) breakup, her father, Doug Milburn, spotted the red flags immediately after their first meeting. During Riley’s 2012 chat with The Standard, she recalled how she called her father to gush about Elon the day after she met him in 2008 and informed him that they would be going out on a date later. However, it only took Milburn a quick Google search to learn that Elon was already married to Justine Musk, and they had five children together.
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Needless to say, he wasn’t impressed, sternly telling his daughter: “You’ve been picked up by a playboy. Text that man you’re not going for dinner with him and he’s a b*****d.” Riley confessed, “I was sad, because my judgement on people is usually quite astute.” However, before she made any rash decisions, she called a friend, who insisted that Elon and Justine’s relationship was over.
Still, it’s pretty weird that Elon asked her out on a date without informing her that he was in the middle of a highly publicized divorce. Another odd aspect of their relationship was the fact that Elon was 14 years older than his ex-wife. However, Riley told the Daily Mail in 2023 that she was never too fussed about the age gap between her and her partners had chalked it up to being “an only-child thing.”
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