Shivon Zilis, Elon Musk’s Indian Origin Partner, Announces Split

India-West News Desk

NEW YORK, NY -Shivon Zilis, the mother of four of Elon Musk’s children and a woman of Punjabi Indian ancestry, has announced that she and the billionaire have ended their relationship, saying the breakup came without warning.

In a lengthy post on X, Zilis said it was difficult to go from being in love to letting go within a week. “It’s hard to go from in love to let go in a week with no warning, but that’s just how it is sometimes,” she wrote.

Zilis said she hoped she and Musk could remain friends and co-parent their four children. The couple welcomed twins in 2021, followed by a third child in 2024 and a fourth in 2025. “I’m hurting, but care deeply about E and will always be cheering for his happiness,” she wrote, referring to Musk.

Musk has 14 known children with four different women.

Zilis, who previously worked at Tesla, is now with Neuralink, Musk’s brain technology company. Their relationship had largely remained private until details emerged during an OpenAI court case earlier this year.

Zilis testified that sometime after she joined OpenAI in 2016, she had a romantic “one-off” encounter with Musk. The court heard that Musk had offered to donate sperm after Zilis decided she wanted to become a single mother. What began as a proposed “platonic sperm donor” arrangement later developed into a romantic partnership.

Zilis’ Indian connection is from her biological mother, Sharda, who is of Punjabi Indian origin and  a white Canadian father. She was adopted as a baby and raised in Canada.

Musk publicly highlighted Zilis’ Indian ancestry during an interview withpodcaster Nikhil Kamath, bringing wider attention to her background.

Her connection to Indian heritage has also been reflected in the name of one of her sons. Musk and Zilis named their son Strider Sekhar, with “Sekhar” honoring Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, the astrophysicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983.

Zilis’ Indian roots also came into the spotlight in February 2025, when she accompanied Musk and their children to his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, D.C. The appearance brought her and her family into the public view in an India-U.S. context.