Elon Musk allegedly had an affair with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of his billionaire buddy and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
From secretly fathering twins with a colleague, swooped to buy Twitter only to run away from the $44billion deal, then seeing one of his kids seek to change their name because they want nothing to do with him, you might think there can't possibly be another twist in Elon Musk's bewildering life story.
Well, there is.
On July 23, The Wall Street Journal reported what can only be described as the ultimate story of betrayal at the billionaire level.
According to the journal, Musk, the world's richest man, had an affair with the wife of his long-standing friend and sometime business ally Sergey Brin in December last year.
This prompted Brin, the eighth richest man in the world, to file for divorce in January.
As per divorce documents, Brin cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the divorce.
However, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Brin filed for divorce after allegedly discovering that his wife Nicole Shanahan hooked up with Musk at the Art Basel event in Miami.
Nicole And Brin Were Already Having Marital Problems Before The Affair
Nicole is now seeking $1 billion in their divorce, allegedly more than Brin says she's entitled to under the conditions of their prenup.
She's arguing that he forced her to sign the prenup under duress while pregnant.
Following the 'brief' affair, sources told the Journal that Musk got down on one knee at an event earlier this year and begged Brin for forgiveness.
While Brin accepted Musk's apology, things are still frosty between the two.
Several hours after The Wall Street Journal publicized the affair, Musk issued a roundabout denial on Twitter, calling it "total bs."
In reply to a YouTuber who had reposted a link to the story and tagged him, the billionaire added:
"Sergey and I are friends and were at a party last night!"
"I've only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic."
Brin and Nicole met at a yoga retreat in 2016. At the time, she was a patent lawyer and tech entrepreneur in her own right.
In June last year, Nicole was profiled on the cover of San Francisco magazine.
She was heralded as a "change maker," telling the interviewer how she overcame a childhood with a "bipolar schizophrenic father."
She said:
"My dad was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia when I was 9, and my Chinese-born mom had only been in the US for two years when I was born."
"I had two unemployed parents for the majority of my childhood, so not only was there no money, there was almost no parental guidance, and as you can imagine with a mentally ill father, there was lots of chaos and fear."
She explained that she grew up on food stamps and bussed tables when she was 12. This was until the internet changed her life.
She noted:
"Without the internet, I would probably still be in Oakland doing the same thing I was doing at age 12."
In the interview, Nicole also revealed her desire to leave behind a legacy of 'ideas' and 'helping the planet.'
She said:
"I want my legacy to be one of the ideas. I want it to be about evolving the human experience on this planet in an abundant way."
"I want it to be one of strength and love and compassion. I want it to be one of working hard, learning from one's mistakes, and of personal growth."
Brin and Shanahan share a 4-year-old daughter.
Nicole and Musk's affair occurred in the same month that Musk welcomed a baby girl via a surrogate with his ex-girlfriend Grimes.
This was just a month after he secretly welcomed twins with a former executive from one of his companies.
