Tesla CEO Elon Musk is again making headlines in the news as The Wall Street Journal released a report yesterday alleging that Elon Musk had an affair with Nicole Shanahan, wife of Google Cofounder Sergey Brin.
According to the report, the alleged affair between Musk and Shanahan happened in December 2021 in Miami. Both were attending Art Basel, which is one of the biggest art festivals in the world.
Soon after the report came out, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he and Ms. Shanahan had only met twice in the last three years and both times there were other people around.
This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!
I’ve only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2022
Soon after, Sergey Brin came to know about this affair and filed for divorce in January 2022 at Santa Clara Country Superior Court. In his divorce petition, Sergey cited “irreconcilable differences,” as the reason for the decision to end the marriage. He also mentioned 15th December 2021 as the date for separation in the divorce papers. Even though Ms. Shanahan and Sergey Brin were separated at the time of the affair, both were living together.
Sergey Brin – Nicole Shanahan
Google Cofounder Sergey Brin and Nicole Shanahan, a legal tech founder, started their relationship nearly 7 years ago when both of them met at a yoga retreat.
Soon after their marriage in 2018, Ms. Shanahan gave birth to a daughter in late 2018.
The couple started facing problems in the relationship as COVID-19 induced lockdown and the topic of caring for their 3-year-old daughter often created quarrels between them.
Mr. Brin’s was earlier married to entrepreneur Anne Wojcicki, which ended in divorce in 2015.
As of now, the divorce petition filed by Mr. Brin is in the stage of mediation. Ms. Shanahan is demanding more than 1 billion dollars as a settlement, while Mr. Brin is of the opinion that she is asking for more than what she is entitled to according to the prenuptial agreement.
The friendship between Elon Musk and Sergey Brin
Elon Musk and Sergey Brin had been friends for a long time. In 2008, during the global economic crisis, Tesla was also undergoing a severe financial crisis. Mr. Brin at that time helped Elon Musk by giving nearly 500000 dollars for supporting Tesla. Elon Musk gifted Sergey Brin an all-electric sport utility vehicle by Tesla in 2015. The specific car was one of the very first electric vehicles to be produced by Tesla.
Due to the alleged affair between Elon Musk and Ms. Shanahan, Musk and Brin had a bad relationship for the last few months. There were even reports that Sergey was planning to sell his entire shareholdings in companies owned by Elon Musk.
WSJ report also states that soon after Sergey came to know about the affair Elon had with Shanahan, Elon Musk apologized to Mr. Brin. Even though Sergey accepted the apology at that time, the friendship between them was not restored.
