Elon Musk is a man of numbers. Rockets launched, cars produced, billions earned. But when it comes to his personal life, the math gets a little fuzzy for the average person scrolling through Twitter—or X, whatever we're calling it this hour. If you've ever tried to track his family tree, you know it's less of a tree and more of a complex, multi-layered circuit board.
So, let's just get the big question out of the way immediately. How many times has Elon been married? Technically, the answer is three. But wait, there’s a catch that always trips people up. He has had three marriages, but only two wives.
If that sounds like a riddle, it’s because he married the same woman twice. Talk about a "reboot." Beyond the legal paperwork, his life is a whirlwind of high-profile partners, secret births, and a growing roster of children that currently sits at 14 as of early 2026.
The "Starter Wife" and the Early Years
Before the rockets and the flame-throwers, there was Queen’s University in Ontario. That’s where Elon met Justine Wilson, a Canadian aspiring author. Honestly, their origin story sounds like a typical college romance. He was the persistent guy who wouldn't take no for an answer, even after she stood him up for ice cream.
They tied the knot in 2000.
This was the era of Zip2 and the early days of PayPal. They were building a life while Elon was building an empire. However, the marriage was marked by immense tragedy. Their first son, Nevada Alexander, passed away at just 10 weeks old from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). It’s a kind of pain most can't imagine, and Justine later wrote about how they handled it differently—Elon focused on moving forward, while she needed to grieve.
They eventually had five more children together via IVF: twins Griffin and Vivian, and then triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian.
By 2008, the marriage was toast. Justine famously wrote an essay for Marie Claire titled "I Was a Starter Wife," where she detailed the power dynamics of the relationship. She claimed that as Elon became more successful, he began to treat her like an employee rather than a partner. Just six weeks after he filed for divorce, he texted her to say he was engaged to a British actress.
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The Talulah Riley Era (Parts 1 and 2)
Enter Talulah Riley. You might recognize her from Pride & Prejudice or Westworld. She was 22; he was 37. They met at a bar in London, and by 2010, they were married at Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland.
This is where the "how many times" question gets tricky.
- Marriage #1: 2010 to 2012. They divorced, and Elon tweeted a sweet message about how he would love her forever and she'd make someone else very happy one day.
- Marriage #2: Turns out, that "someone else" was him again. They remarried in 2013.
Why remarry? Talulah later told The Independent that it just felt "silly" to be together but not married after they had already done it once. It was a habit. A very expensive, legally binding habit.
The second attempt didn't stick either. Elon filed for divorce in 2014 but withdrew it. Then Talulah filed in 2016. That one went through. They don't have any children together, but by all accounts, they remain on good terms. In fact, Talulah recently married actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and the Musk world seems to have moved on.
The High-Profile Partners (But No Rings)
Since 2016, Elon hasn't actually walked down the aisle again, though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise given the headlines.
He had a brief, highly publicized relationship with Amber Heard right after her split from Johnny Depp. Then came the Grimes era—perhaps the most "on-brand" relationship for a tech mogul. They debuted at the Met Gala in 2018 and proceeded to have three children with names that require a PhD to pronounce: X Æ A-Xii, Exa Dark Sideræl, and Techno Mechanicus.
Despite the kids and the "fluid" relationship status, they never married.
Then there’s Shivon Zilis, an executive at his company Neuralink. They’ve welcomed four children together since 2021, including twins and most recently a son named Seldon Lycurgus in early 2025. Again, no marriage here. Just a shared mission to, as Elon puts it, "fight the underpopulation crisis."
Why the Number Matters
People obsess over how many times has elon been married because it highlights the gap between his public persona and his private reality. He often tweets about traditional family values and the importance of having kids, yet his own family structure is anything but traditional.
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He is currently the father of 14 known children with four different women (most recently welcoming Romulus with Ashley St. Clair).
Keeping track of this isn't just celebrity gossip; it’s a look into the mind of someone who treats life like an optimization problem. He wants more people on Earth (and Mars), and he’s doing his part to make that happen, even if the "marriage" part of the equation has fallen by the wayside in favor of "partnership" and "co-parenting."
Summary of the Marital Math
If you’re ever at a trivia night, here is the breakdown you need to remember:
- Justine Wilson (2000–2008): One marriage, five surviving children.
- Talulah Riley (2010–2012): Second marriage, no kids.
- Talulah Riley (2013–2016): Third marriage (same person), no kids.
Since 2016, he has been legally single.
Actionable Insights for the Curious:
- Don't trust the surface level: When you see a headline about "Elon Musk's new baby," don't assume there's a wedding involved. He has shifted away from legal marriage toward a more "technocratic" approach to family.
- Check the dates: Because he remarried Talulah, many sources list him as having "two wives" or "three marriages." Both are correct, depending on how you phrase it.
- Follow the legal filings: Much of what we know about his newer children comes from court documents regarding name changes or custody, rather than birth announcements.
Whether he’ll ever go for Marriage #4 is anyone's guess. But for now, he seems more focused on populating the planet than signing another prenup.