Elon Musk has repeatedly approached female employees at SpaceX, a company he founded and leads, for sexual activities and to have his children, according to a new report.
The Wall Street Journal, citing interviews with dozens of people as well as text messages and other documents, describes the experience of four female employees at SpaceX who were showed an “unusual amount of attention” or pursued by one of the world’s richest people. That includes a SpaceX flight attendant who alleges that Musk in 2016 exposed himself to her and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for sex, and a woman who left the aerospace company in 2013 and claims Musk asked her to “have his babies.” After that woman declined to have his children, Musk began complaining about her performance and denied a raise. She later secured an exit package valued at more than $1 million, the Journal reports.
Musk is a vocal proponent of having more children, routinely commenting on low birth rates and saying the end of civilization will be caused by “a whimper, in adult diapers.” He has 11 kids, including twins born through in vitro fertilization with Shivon Zilis, who leads his Neuralink startup.
A third woman met Musk as a SpaceX intern while in college, eventually going on a date with and having sex with Musk while working for the company, The Journal reports. In 2017, Musk contacted her to join his executive staff, before she left a few years later. According to the Journal, which received affidavits submitted by the woman’s lawyer, she denied having a romantic relationship with Musk and said she supported him through issues at Tesla and his divorce from actress Talulah Riley.
“The untruths, mischaracterizations, and revisionist history in your email paint a completely misleading narrative,” SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell told The Journal. “I continue to be amazed by what this extraordinary group of people are achieving every day even amidst all the forces acting against us. And Elon is one of the best humans I know.”
Shotwell faces allegations of her own. In 2013, she accused an employee of having an affair with her husband, Robert Shotwell. After the employee went to human resources about the accusation, it got leaked back to Shotwell, who retaliated against the employee, The Journal reports.
“[Shotwell] has 100% sabotaged my future at a company I love, and I am not safe in any position,” she said in a September 2014 email to a friend. “This position is killing me and it has [affected] my mental and now physical health.”
As of that fall, the woman had started working for Musk directly, becoming close professionally and putting in 17-hour workdays, helping out at both Tesla and in his personal life. Their relationship became more intimate, with the Journal reporting at lest two occasions where they had sex:
They saw each other again at his house in mid-December 2014, after Musk’s children were put to bed, according to text messages the woman shared with a friend at the time.
“I’ll see you at 11 or so,” the woman wrote in a text to Musk.
“Ok 🙂 If you get tired or don’t feel like it for any reason, no problem to cancel,” he replied.
She said she didn’t want to cancel. “I might send a note to your house security only, to let them know I’m coming to drop something off….or something. So they’re prepared?”
In bed the next morning, Musk promised the woman Tesla stock for unpaid work she’d done for him at the carmaker and in his personal life, she told a person close to her.
Musk told the woman that if the relationship ever became public, they’d have to say it started after she left the company, the woman later told that person and another friend.
Musk later declined to pay the woman in Tesla stock, later paying her $85,000 in cash that required her to release him from legal claims “known and unknown.”
