Turbulent, whirlwind, controversial, all common adjectives used to describe the relationship between the world’s richest man Elon Musk and Canadian musician Grimes.
Since the two first got together in 2018, it seems no one has a real handle on where they stand as a couple. In October 2023, it was widely reported that Grimes, real name Claire Boucher, had taken legal action to secure her paternity rights for the couple’s three children.
The earliest rumors of their relationship go all the way back to a pre-Covid 19 world in February 2018 when Musk had just split from actress Amber Heard. The South African and Grimes shared a few tweets, which sent the rumors flying.
The couple had their formal coming out ceremony three months later at that year’s Met Gala.
It wasn’t long before we had our first reports of trouble in paradise when the two were widely reported to have unfollowed each other on the app formerly known as Twitter in August 2018.
That same month, outspoken rapper Azealia Banks claimed that she, Grimes, and Musk all spent the weekend together at his house where she saw him regularly using acid. A spokesman called those claims ‘absolute nonsense’.
The rep went a step further, saying, “Elon doesn’t know Azealia Banks.” Banks then posted screenshots of text messages she claimed came from Grimes that read ‘(Musk) has a fake made-up accent’ in addition to a ‘giant d**k’.
By fall, Grimes Musk was seen at a pumpkin patch in Los Angeles with his five children from his first marriage to writer Justine Wilson. At that point, they re-followed each other on social media.
At some point, the star-crossed lovers parted again.
Grimes and Elon Musk attend the 2018 Met Gala together
In 2018, outspoken rapper Azealia Banks claimed that she, Grimes and Musk all spent the weekend together at his house where she saw him regularly using acid
In January 2019, Grimes told her followers that she was in Shanghai at the same time he was opening a new Tesla factory in the city.
We wouldn’t see them together in public until December 2019 when they were photographed with Kimye and Travis Scott at the Kardashian-Jenner Christmas party in Calabasas.
Earlier that month, Musk gave his paramour a standing ovation while she performed at the Game Awards, reports Business Insider.
It was clear that there was unfinished business between them because in January 2020, Grimes proudly showed off a baby bump in an Instagram photo. In a subsequent interview with rolling stone, Grimes confirmed that Musk was the father of her child.
During the same piece, Grimes talked about her track, So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth, which is about her pregnancy.
‘The kind of tragedy to agree to it, even though it’s this wonderful thing. For a girl, it is sacrificing your body and your freedom. It’s a pretty crazy sacrifice and only half the population has to do it. It was very profound for me when I decided I was going to do it, to actually go through the act of having unprotected sex,’ she told the magazine.
“I really just really love my boyfriend,” Grimes continued, adding that her reaction to pregnancy was, “You know, sure.”
In May, the world said hello to the unlikely name X Æ A-12 Musk, which was later renamed X thanks to California laws
That same month, a source told Us Weekly that after the birth of X, shown here, they ‘experienced a lot of ups and downs’ and were ‘on and off’
In May, the world said hello to the improbably named X Æ A-12 Musk, which was later renamed X thanks to California laws. Musk posted a photo from the hospital showing him holding X with the caption: ‘Mom and baby all good.’
That same month, a source told Us Weekly that after the birth of X, they ‘experienced a lot of ups and downs’ and were ‘on and off’.
Musk told The New York Times in a July 2020 interview that X’s mother was more involved in his parenting. “When the kid gets older, there will be more of a role for me,” he said.
Grimes wrote to Musk the same month: ‘I love you but please turn off your phone or give me a (call). I cannot support hate. Please stop this. I know it’s not your heart.’ This was in response to his infamous ‘Pronouns suck’ message.
A little less than a year later, Grimes appeared in a sketch during Musk’s infamous hosting turn on Saturday Night Live on May 8, 2021.
Grimes wrote in an Instagram post that she was hospitalized thanks to a panic attack he suffered just before the performance. The Canadian made the reference in an Instagram post showing her with that night’s musical guest Miley Cyrus.
She also said she was ‘so proud’ of Musk who she called ‘beautiful’ and added ‘he killed it’.
Nothing lasts forever. By September, Musk told the New York Post the couple were “semi-divorced” but said they were on good terms.
Grimes appeared in a sketch during Musk’s infamous hosting turn on Saturday Night Live on May 8, 2021
Before 2021 was complete, the couple had a second child, via surrogate, and named Exa Dark Sideral. The parents call her Y
Grimes Instagram Promotes Her New Single ‘I Wanna Be Software’ And Shows Off New Tattoos In 2023
Grimes used that opportunity to unleash a new song, Love, which was in response to their breakup.
It includes the lyrics: ‘It f*****g sucks to be awake, Oh Lord, I pray the Lord take my soul… No one understands, because all they hate is all which I love.’
The Tesla founder said that due to his work schedule, their relationship was no longer feasible, but then also said that they share a home with their child.
Grimes said similarly on Instagram a month later, revealing that she lived with Musk and mocking a New York Post story that reported she had read the Communist Manifesto, presumably in the wake of the X- owner who abandoned her.
Before 2021 was complete, the couple had a second child, via surrogate, and named Exa Dark Sideral. The parents call her Y.
Grimes also managed to get another song out of the relationship, titled Prayer of Games, which was released the same month. ‘I’m in love with the best player but he will always love the game more than he loves me,’ read one section.
Amidst the joy of being parents again, Grimes shared Vanity Fair in March 2022 that they were a couple again, but described their courtship as ‘very fluid’.
‘There is no right word for it. I’ll probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we’re very fluid. We live in separate houses. We are best friends. We see each other all the time… We just have our own thing going on, and I don’t expect other people to understand that.’
‘It’s the best it’s ever been. We just need to be free,” Grimes told the magazine.
Despite those loving words, Grimes tweets by the time Vanity Fair hits newsstands that they are no longer a couple.
Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography of Musk, simply titled Elon, revealed that Grimes was first charmed by the billionaire when he drove her to a restaurant on her second date, accelerating and closing his eyes as he drove the car sat on autopilot.
In the same book, it was revealed that Musk and Grimes secretly had a third child together named Techno Mechanicus whom they call Tau.
When they got to dinner, Musk carved ‘EM+CB’ on a wall.
In the same book, it was revealed that Musk and Grimes secretly had a third child together named Techno Mechanicus whom they call Tau.
Now Grimes is in court suing Musk for parental rights to their three children.
The owner of the X, formerly Twitter, does not appear to have responded to Grimes’ petition.
The Canadian singer (35) has yet to request child support or custody rights. The petition comes weeks after Grimes made a public plea to Musk, 52, to see their son.
In a now-deleted tweet to Shivon Zilis, who gave birth to the billionaire’s twins through IVF, Grimes said: ‘Tell Shivon to unblock me and tell Elon to let me see my son or please up my lawyer to respond.
“I have never even been allowed to see a picture of these children until this moment, despite the situation that has completely torn my family apart.”
Zilis is an executive at Musk’s Neuralink company. She gave birth last November, according to court documents, but has not publicly said the two are romantically involved.