On Friday, Elon Musk congratulated his ex-wife Talulah Riley after she announced on his social media platform Twitter that she is engaged to Thomas Brodie Sangster.
The sweet message was a true nod to the former couple’s friendship, having maintained a close bond despite their two weddings and three attempts at divorce.
Their love story began in 2008, when a 22-year-old Talulah met the Tesla billionaire, then 37 and fresh out of his split from his first wife Justine Wilson, in a London night club and became engaged just 10 days later.
Talulah, who did not believe in 𝓈ℯ𝓍 before marriage, wed Elon in 2010 before splitting two years later and remarrying the following year. They ended their convoluted love story with a final divorce in 2016 and a reported $16m settlement for Talulah.
Now, a look inside the bizarre love story between the newly-engaged actress and the entrepreneur, who is now worth an estimated $239.3b…
Elon Musk and Talulah Riley’s VERY bizarre love story: A look at their 20-year age-gap, no 𝓈ℯ𝓍 before marriage, two weddings, disapproving parents, three divorce attempts and $16m split (the couple pictured in London in July 2011)
Way back when: Their love story began in 2008, when a 22-year-old Talulah met the Tesla billionaire, then 37 and fresh out of his split from his first wife Justine Wilson, in a London night club and became engaged just 10 days later
Congrats: On Friday, Elon congratulated his ex-wife after she announced on his social media platform Twitter that she is engaged to Thomas Brodie Sangster
2008-2009
FIRST MEETING
The couple met at London nightclub Whisky Mist and Musk wooed her by talking about rockets in 2008. He had filed for divorce from his first wife Justine Wilson just six weeks before they struck up their romance.
He met Justine when they were both attending Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, and they tied the knot in 2000. The couple have five 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren – twins Griffin and Vivien, nine, and triplets, Kai, Saxon and Damian, seven.
Riley said of their first meeting in the new BBC documentary: ‘My first impressions were that he was very sweet, he seemed quite shy.
‘He said ‘may I put my hand on your knee’ and I said, ‘OK go on then’, I thought it was quite sweet that he asked.’
She continued: ‘He said I don’t usually do this but I’d love to see you tomorrow can we meet for breakfast. So we had breakfast.
‘And at the end of breakfast he said would you come and have lunch with me so we went for lunch. And then he said would you come for dinner.
‘And then one evening I remember he said would you like to come back to my hotel room so we can look at rocket videos. And I thought, hmm okay I’ll come back. And we did get into his hotel room and he did just show me rocket videos.’
Happy days: The couple met at London nightclub Whisky Mist and Musk wooed her by talking about rockets in 2008
BAN FROM DAD
The love story nearly never-was when Talulah first told her father Doug Milburn, formerly head of the National Crime Squad, and later a writer of TV police procedurals, about who she had met, leading to an ill-advised Google search. Her mother is Una Riley, founder of a security systems company and a public relations company.
She recalled: ‘I said, ‘Daddy, I’ve met this amazing man who makes rockets.’ [He asked] ‘What’s his name?’ He Googled ‘Elon + rocket + electric car’ and exclaimed, angrily, that Elon was married with five 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren.’
He replied: ‘You’ve been picked up by a playboy. Text that man you’re not going for dinner with him and he’s a b**tard.’
Starring role: Elon is pictured in 2010, the year he married Talulah for the first time
Talulah went on: ‘I was sad, because my judgement on people is usually quite astute’, before revealing she consulted a pal who told her he was already split from his ex-wife Justine, after he filed for divorce six weeks previously.
WHIRLWIND ENGAGEMENT
Talulah and Elon became engaged 10 days after first meeting, and Talulah joined Elon and his young 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren in his almost empty 20,000 sq ft Los Angeles mansion.
Speaking on last year’s BBC documentary, The Elon Musk Show, she recalled: ‘I moved straight into the home with all the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren and it became a very real thing immediately…
‘I think because of my youth, I was relatively gung-ho about it. Essentially our home life was work. We were focused on the companies and the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren.’
NO SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE
In an interview with the Evening Standard in 2012, she revealed she was a virgin when she met the billionaire, having only had one boyfriend.
She said: ‘I’ve never slept with anyone apart from Elon. Which is nice. I mean, which is great. After all that, to describe it as ‘nice’ It’s great.’
Talulah revealed she had always believed in 𝓈ℯ𝓍 before marriage and when she was asked why, she said: ‘For no reason that I can explain…
‘I’m very shy. I don’t drink. I had a gulp of alcohol once and it was disgusting – so bitter. I don’t drink tea or coffee. I’m like a 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥, I like fruit juices and sodas and creamy hot chocolate.
Stunner: The couple first tied the knot in 2010, at an idyllic ceremony at Dornoch Cathedral in Sutherland, where guests arrived by helicopter and private jet (the couple are pictured in 2011)
2010-2014
WEDDING AND SPLIT NUMBER ONE
The couple first tied the knot in 2010, at an idyllic ceremony at Dornoch Cathedral in Sutherland, where guests arrived by helicopter and private jet.
The happy couple arrived at church in a white Rolls-Royce, and paraded around the village square in a horse-drawn carriage after the ceremony.
Then 24-year-old Talulah wore a dramatic white gown while Elon was clad in a top hat and tails as they married in front of their nearest and dearest.
Despite the fairytale wedding, their first marriage ended in 2012, when she reportedly walked away with $16 million as part of a divorce settlement.
He tweeted at the time: ‘It was an amazing four years. I will love you forever. You will make someone very happy one day’.
WEDDING AND SPLIT NUMBER TWO
One year after their 2012 split, in summer 2013, they remarried.
Talulah revealed that their reunion came during their divorce filing, saying: ‘I think we got back together at the divorce filing’.
But then, in December 2014, he filed for divorce a second time, only to withdraw the lawsuit seven months later.
In March 2016, Talulah then requested a divorce, in their third attempt at ending the marriage, and the pair split for good. They did not have any 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren together.
According to their statement, Talulah and Elon had been living separately for six months before the filing and planned to remain friends.
Musk told Forbes at the time: ‘We took some time apart for several months to see if absence makes the heart grow fonder, and unfortunately it did not. I still love her, but I’m not in love with her. And I can’t really give her what she wants.’
He also called her ‘a great woman’ and said he will ‘always be friends’ with her.
At the time, he said he had no interest in marrying again for a while, adding: ‘I think it would be extremely unwise for me to jump into a third marriage without spending considerable time figuring out if the third one will work.
‘It was never my intention to have a short marriage. Essentially I’d want to be super sure before getting married again, but I certainly would love to be in a relationship. For sure.’
At the time of their second split, Elon said: ‘We took some time apart for several months to see if absence makes the heart grow fonder, and unfortunately it did not.’
Way back when: One year after their 2012 split, in summer 2013, they remarried (the couple are pictured in 2013)
WEDDING NUMBER THREE?
Following the split, when asked if she would marry Musk for a third time she said: ‘I mean, never say never. 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. If this could continue indefinitely it would be lovely…
‘When you’ve been with someone for eight years on and off, you really learn how to love them. He and I are very good at loving each other.’
FRIENDS
The couple maintained a friendship after their split and Talulah was even mentioned in court documents regarding Elon’s acquisition of Twitter.
It was revealed in court that in bombshell text messages, Talulah asked her ex-husband to ‘buy Twitter then delete it’, saying it had become a ‘scourge of modern life’ and bowing to join him in the fight against ‘wokeism’.
Talulah was among a group of celebrities who contacted Elon in April after he announced plans to buy the company.
The texts were revealed in recently filed court documents that were part of Musk’s legal battle with Twitter. At the time, he had proposed to buy the company again for $44billion after trying unsuccessfully to back out of the deal.
Riley wrote: ‘Can you buy Twitter and then delete it, please!? America is going insane. Or can you buy Twitter and make it radically free=speech? So much stupidity comes from Twitter.’
Musk replied: ‘Maybe buy it and change it to properly support free speech.’
Talulah, who was saved in his phone as TJ, responded: ‘I honestly think social media is the scourge of modern life, and the worst of all is Twitter because it’s also a news stream as well as a social platform and so has more real-world standing than TikTok etc.
‘But it’s very easy to exploit and is being used by radicals for social engineering on a massive scale. And this s**t is infecting the world. Please do something to fight woke-ism. I will do anything to help! xx’.
Sweet: The couple maintained a friendship after their split and Talulah was even mentioned in court documents regarding Elon’s acquisition of Twitter (pictured in 2014)
2016-ONWARDS
TALULAH’S LOVES
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Talulah is set to wed again, this time to 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦-faced actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster.
The pair, who have been dating for two years, announced they were engaged using both Elon’s Twitter and Instagram.
Writing alongside a photograph of herself and Thomas, Talulah, 37, said: ‘Very happy to share that after two years of dating, Thomas Brodie Sangster and I are engaged.’
Elon used his own social media site to send his well-wishes, with the world’s richest man commenting: ‘Congratulations’ with a love heart beneath her post.
The happy couple, who live in a grade two listed Manor House in the countryside, enjoyed a night out in London on Wednesday where the actress was seen with a diamond ring on her wedding finger.
My love: The happy couple, who live in a grade two listed Manor House in the countryside, enjoyed a night out in London on Wednesday where the actress was seen with a diamond ring on her wedding finger
ELON’S LADIES
Musk has had a long list of glamorous wives and girlfriends and last year, split from long-time on and off partner Canadian singer Grimes, with whom he shares two 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren X Æ A-Xii and Exa Dark Sideræl, who goes by Y.
The news of the split was only revealed in March 2022 when an interview Grimes had given to Vanity Fair before their break up was published.
She had told the outlet she ‘would probably refer to Elon as her boyfriend’ but after publication took to Twitter to reveal that they had since broken up.
And after his second split from Riley, he was briefly linked to Amber Heard after she split from Johnny Depp in 2017.
Stunner: Musk has had a long list of glamorous wives and girlfriends and last year, split from long-time on and off partner Canadian singer Grimes, with whom he shares two 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren X Æ A-Xii and Exa Dark Sideræl, who goes by Y
