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Vivian Musk Chooses A Modest Life · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
• 0:04
  Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
• 0:07
  the critical crossroads, the shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, the
• 0:11
  Boring Company and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
• 0:16
  Vivian. Jenna Wilson, you might not know
• 0:20
  that name. She's the 20 year old daughter
• 0:23
  of Elon Musk. She's made it clear that she
• 0:26
  wants nothing to do with the wealth and the identity that
• 0:29
  come with being tied to her father.
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  She lives in a modest apartment, shares a space with three
• 0:36
  roommates, and has no interest in accumulating the kind of
• 0:39
  money her family is known for. Why would somebody like her walk
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  away from one of the most powerful names ever and all the
• 0:48
  money anybody could ever want? And they're willing to trade
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  opulence for obscurity. Vivian filed to legally cut ties
• 1:00
  with Elon back in 2022, changing her full name and requesting
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  recognition of her gender identity.
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  In the same court filing, she made it clear that she no longer
• 1:11
  wished to be related in any way, shape, or form to Elon Musk.
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  That same year, she turned 18 and moved out to attend College
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  in the Los Angeles area. Her mother, author Justine Musk,
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  has supported her publicly and privately through the
• 1:24
  transition. And like Elon, who runs six
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  companies and has a net worth north of 200 billion, Vivian has
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  said she wants to live a quiet, regular life.
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  She now shares a small apartment with three roommates.
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  They split rent. Utility.
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  She doesn't own a car. She doesn't keep designer
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  clothes in the closet. She's not running away from
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  privilege for spectacle, though. She's just doing it because she
• 1:48
  believes it fits with who she is.
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  Her rejection of wealth is an immediate stunt.
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  It's not a protest. It's a life choice backed by
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  consistency. Vivian has expressed frustration
• 2:00
  at how people assume she lives a lavish life because of who her
• 2:03
  father is. Shed.
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  She doesn't want to be super rich, doesn't want to be
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  associated with the excess. She is studying full time,
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  living on a kind of smallish budget, choosing to stay out of
• 2:16
  the public eye whenever it's possible.
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  That kind of anonymity isn't something that Elon Musk's name
• 2:23
  usually allows. She's working to make it happen
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  anyway. She's trying to stay low key.
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  Inside the family, though, the rift has been quiet but also
• 2:31
  decisive. Elon Musk hasn't publicly spoken
• 2:34
  about Vivian since she filed for the legal name change.
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  He's hinted at disagreements around political views and has
• 2:40
  criticized what he calls the Woke Mind virus, suggesting that
• 2:45
  ideological gaps may be part of the estrangement.
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  Vivian has stayed styling public.
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  Though she hasn't spoken to the media, she hasn't posted online.
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  Her mother has occasionally spoken about her, often
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  affirming that she's strong, independent, and exactly where
• 3:01
  she wants to be. Though Vivian's decision comes
• 3:04
  at a time when Elon Musk's public image has grown more
• 3:07
  polarized. While he maintains a large
• 3:10
  following and leads companies like SpaceX, Tesla, and XAI,
• 3:14
  public statements, politics, gender identity, and social
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  issues have alienated a lot of people, including his family.
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  Musk has stated that his trans daughter no longer wants
• 3:25
  anything to do with him because she's been brainwashed by
• 3:28
  progressive institutions. But that framing ignores the
• 3:31
  reality that Vivian herself took legal action to sever ties and
• 3:35
  has stood by that decision for many years now.
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  Story also brings up a large question about generational
• 3:42
  wealth. It's one thing to inherit money,
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  just another to reject the entire identity of your family.
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  It's built around this wealth. Vivian has not only turned her
• 3:53
  back on the wealth, she's actively redefined herself on
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  her own terms. She could have kept the Musk
• 4:00
  name and stayed silent, hanging out with billions of dollars.
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  She didn't. She chose to publicly detach and
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  rebuild from scratch. Her life now is the opposite of
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  Elon's. And while Elon broadcast his
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  thoughts, sometimes at 3:00 in the morning, to millions of
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  people on X, he builds rockets, makes bets on AI and brain
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  implants. Vivian is going to school,
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  making dinner with roommates and refusing to buy into the world
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  she was born into. She's not trying to launch any
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  brands. She's not selling T-shirts.
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  She's just trying to live a normal life.
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  Might be the most difficult thing someone in her position
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  could do. She could just ask Dad for some
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  money sometime, asking for a little help.
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  She doesn't know, she just hangs out.
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  She does her thing. Musk family, though, has several
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  children. Vivian's departure is the most
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  explicit break from Elon's orbit, though.
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  She hasn't left a door open for reconciliation, though she made
• 5:03
  a clean break and she's lived like it.
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  She doesn't want anything to do with Elon.
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  For someone born into wealth and influenced, though, this isn't a
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  common move. You always leave your little
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  foot in the door, so maybe someday something could happen,
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  somebody would say they're sorry, and you get back in.
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  Most areas, work hard to cash in on their legacy or at least keep
• 5:26
  access to it. Vivian hasn't done that.
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  She doesn't care, just wants to live a normal life.
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  Justine Musk continues to maintain a quiet presence as
• 5:35
  well. She occasionally posts cryptic
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  reflections about motherhood, identity, and love on social
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  media, but she hasn't turned the situation into a media war like
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  Elon usually does. Focus seems to be on letting her
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  daughter lead her own life without interference or spin.
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  That approach has helped Vivian avoid the tabloid vortex that
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  tends to follow people from high profile families.
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  Now, this doesn't mean her mother doesn't give her money.
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  Justine more than likely gives Vivian a pretty OK allowance.
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  I'm sure that's never been spoken about.
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  Vivian doesn't talk about it, Justine doesn't talk about it.
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  But Justine has a lot of Musk's money, so therefore Vivian
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  probably living a OK life with some of that money too, probably
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  doesn't want it but her mom gives it to her anyway.
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  Vivian hasn't given interviews, she hasn't written any essays or
• 6:30
  written anything on social media really.
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  Doesn't have a GoFundMe. There's no vlogging on YouTube,
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  no podcast deal, nothing like that.
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  She's just silent. Doesn't talk about it, doesn't
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  want to her decision doesn't come with a media campaign or a
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  political agenda either. Doesn't talk about that stuff.
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  What is that like to not talk about the way your family has
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  influence and not be in the public spotlight?
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  Could you just stand back and not be part of that if you were
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  Vivian? I don't.
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  Let me know in your podcast players comments.
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  She doesn't care. She's just doesn't want to live
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  like her father. But she's gone to great lengths
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  to make sure that she doesn't just get away.
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  She just wants to get away from everything.
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  It's a lot, I'm sure. I wouldn't want to live like
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  Elon either. Sounds pretty crazy.
• 7:27
  Of course I'd want like the cool stuff.
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  I'd want to be part of those companies in some way.
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  That would be fun. But living that horrible other
• 7:36
  life where you're in the public eye, I would just sit back and
• 7:40
  do my job, to be honest with you.
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  I wouldn't want any of that publicity.
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  I think it's silly, but he's a hype man and he does it, you
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  know, partially I'm sure, to feed his ego because he wouldn't
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  be on social media if he didn't feed your ego a little bit, or
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  do at least, you know, see what people say about you.
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  The positive things, the negative things would kill you,
• 8:00
  you know. But Vivian, I think Vivian made
• 8:04
  the right choice. Doesn't want anything to do with
• 8:07
  it, just wants to hang out and be a kid.
• 8:10
  Yeah, it's not in strange estrangement.
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  She cut all ties. She walked away from
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  generational power and wealth. And kudos to her for doing that.
• 8:23
  Let me know what you think of the comments on whatever podcast
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  platform you're on now. Hey, thank you so much for
• 8:30
  listening today. I really do appreciate your
• 8:32
  support. If you could take a second and
• 8:34
  hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
• 8:37
  platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
• 8:40
  appreciate it. It helps out the show
• 8:41
  tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
• 8:44
  And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
• 8:48
  caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
• 8:50
  support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stage Zero.
• 8:56
  And please take care of yourselves and each other.
• 8:58
  And I'll see you tomorrow.