[Shivon Zilis / X]
[Shivon Zilis / X]

Elon Musk has split with Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink director and longtime business associate with whom he has four children.

Zilis announced the breakup on social media platform X on Friday (local time), saying the separation "came without warning and left a deep wound." She added that going "from being in love to breaking up in just one week was incredibly painful, but I accept that life sometimes unfolds that way."

The split came to light after Musk unfollowed Zilis on X. Citing a post noting that he no longer followed her, Zilis said she would "miss him terribly" but hoped they could remain "good friends and co-parents."

Zilis also shared a screenshot of a conversation from Sept. 24 in which the two exchanged declarations of love, underscoring how abrupt the breakup was. She appeared to have been informed of the split unilaterally.

"I loved him deeply, and he enriched my life immeasurably," she wrote. "My heart is broken, but I will always root for his happiness."

Zilis has long served as a close associate of Musk, holding executive and advisory roles at companies he leads. She previously served as an adviser and board member at OpenAI and currently holds an executive position at Neuralink, the brain-implant technology company Musk co-founded.

The two are reported to have begun having children together in 2020 after Musk offered to donate sperm, conceiving through in vitro fertilization. Their fraternal twins, Strider and Azure, were born in November 2021, followed by a third child, Arcadia, and a fourth, Lycurgus.


bbo@heraldcorp.com