Standing next to the richest man in the world and networking with some of the biggest power players around the new Trump administration, it was quite a night out for a tech executive who has kept a very low profile until now.
Shivon Zilis, mother of three of Elon Musk's 12 children, joined the billionaire in Washington for a pre-inauguration donor party, where she was seen chatting with Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sanchez, as well as Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner.
Until now, the 38-year-old, born in Ontario, Canada, has always supported Musk from the sidelines – and despite sharing three children with him, the exact status of their relationship has never been made clear.
In Trump's new administration, Musk will work in the newly created Department of Government Efficiency – and he was invited to address the crowd at a pre-inauguration rally on Sunday.
After watching from the sidelines, Shivon proudly joined Elon at a party for donors attended by family and friends of the Trumps, as well as celebrities – including Kid Rock, Anuel AA, Justin Quiles and Jon Voight – marking the first time the mother-of-three once stood by Musk's side in such a high-profile way.
She was spotted at the First Policy Institute's black-tie gala at Mar-a-Lago days after Trump's re-election, but stayed on the sidelines as Musk posed with their daughter Azure – one of their twins – while recently welcomed a third child. year.
When the twins were born in 2021, Musk was also preparing to welcome a second child with ex-girlfriend Grimes, but Zilis insisted at the time that they were not in a relationship and that the Tesla boss had offered to donate sperm so she could get pregnant via the internet. IVF.
In the photo: Elon Musk – who will work in President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency – with girlfriend Shivon Zilis and Ivanka Trump at a donor dinner
Zilis told Musk biographer Walter Isaacson that she was looking for an anonymous donor at the time, but was thrilled when her billionaire boss offered to intervene.
“He really wants smart people to have children, so he encouraged me to do this,” she told Isaacson. “I can't possibly think of any genes I would most like to have for my children.”
In June 2024, the billionaire confirmed he had welcomed a third child with Zilis – currently director of operations and special projects at Neuralink – but kept the baby's name and gender a secret.
It's unclear what this means for the status of their relationship, but her presence at last night's event, where she apparently played the role of supportive partner, seems very significant.
The couple is said to have met when Shivon worked on the board of the non-profit organization OpenAI, which was founded in 2015 by Elon Musk.
In November 2021, the couple welcomed their twins Strider and Azure. At the same time, Musk was also preparing for the arrival of a second child with ex-girlfriend Grimes.
It later emerged that Musk had donated sperm to Zilis via IVF, the same method Musk welcomed his children with his first wife Justine Musk.
Grimes is said to have only found out a month after the birth that Musk was the father of Zilis's twins. Elon allegedly made matters worse by taking a name they had chosen for their daughter — Valkyrie — and giving it to one of Zilis' twins, sources told the New York Times.
Musk later chose not to name either twin Valkyrie, settling on the names Strider and Azure.
The birth of the twins was not publicly revealed until the couple filed a petition to change their last name to Musk, with Zilis as their middle name.
Last October, Elon Musk reportedly handed out $35 million on a sprawling Texas According to insiders, his various exes and eleven children could live together.
The billionaire reportedly bought the multi-mansion estate in Austin with his growing family in mind, hoping that the youngest of his children could easily grow up together.
Pictured: Elon Musk speaks with Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott and his partner Shivon Zillis at Trump's donor dinner in Washington last night
Over the course of the evening, Shivon was pictured gazing lovingly at the father of 12 as they exchanged pleasantries with other players in the incoming Trump administration.
After watching her partner from the sidelines, Shivon proudly joined Elon at the party — and was photographed chatting with Ivanka Trump at Jeff Bezos's ensuing candlelight dinner for donors
Elon Musk made headlines in 2022 when he welcomed his tenth and eleventh children with Shivon Zilis
Last year, Elon Musk shared this image from the First Policy Institute's black tie gala at Mar-a-Lago, appearing to be holding his daughter Azure, while Neuralink director and mother of three of his 12 children were believed to be sitting in the back .
Four insiders told the New York Times that Musk bought the 15,000-square-foot mansion so his family could live in “adjacent properties,” allowing him to “schedule time” for his youngest children.
And while it's unclear whether all of Musk's exes are on board, Shivon Zilis, an executive at Musk's brain tech startup Neuralink, has reportedly already moved into one of the mansions on the Austin property.
Building his staggering $270 billion net worth around renewable energy, his rocket company SpaceX recently saw the success of capturing its Starship rocket with giant mechanical arms, while his electric car company Tesla has grown into the world's most valuable automaker.
His prioritization of repopulating the Earth has led to Musk having twelve children, and there are no signs of him being done yet.
