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Back in 2010, Elon Musk wasn't the world's richest man or the tech messiah with a rocket company, electric car empire, and social media platform in his grip. He was a newly minted billionaire fighting to keep Tesla alive, rebuilding SpaceX, and—at the time—trying to dodge a media circus around his divorce.
But when the headlines started claiming he "ran off with an actress," Musk lost his patience.
"Given the choice, I'd rather stick a fork in my hand than write about my personal life," he wrote in a Business Insider essay. "Unfortunately, it seems that I don't have any other option."
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What followed was a rare, unfiltered look into Musk's private life—something he still mostly avoids today. He wasn't posting memes or fighting culture wars yet. This was about correcting what he called a journalist's "creepy fixation" on his marriage, finances, and the woman he was about to marry: British actress Talulah Riley.
Musk made it clear that he filed for divorce from his first wife, Justine, before meeting Riley. "Talulah and I lived on opposite sides of the world and hadn't even known of each other's existence before the marriage with Justine ended," he wrote. The narrative that he abandoned a "devoted wife" to run off with a young actress? "Could not have been more falsely applied."
Still, the relationship with Riley did move quickly. Musk was reportedly engaged to her just two weeks after they met. In a 2014 interview with CBS News, Riley confirmed how fast things escalated: "It all happened very fast. We were engaged after, I think, sorta two weeks of knowing each other."
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In the Business Insider essay, Musk also took the opportunity to praise his new fiancée. "It is worth mentioning that Talulah, as anyone who knows her would attest, is one of the most kind hearted and gentle people in the world," he wrote.
They married later that year in 2010, just months after meeting. But like much of Musk's life, the relationship didn't follow a straight path. They divorced in 2012, remarried in 2013, and finalized a second divorce in 2016.