Who Is Shivon Zilis? All About the Neuralink Executive Who Shares 4 Kids With Elon Musk

Mar. 15, 2025

Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis with their twins Strider and Azure.Photo:Shivon Zilis/X

Shivon Zilis/X

Elon Muskhas continued to expand his family with Shivon Zilis, an executive at one of his companies, Neuralink.

Zilis has previously indicated that Musk offered to be her sperm donor. She has also defended him against critics, including when he was criticized for calling California’s COVID-19 lockdown procedures “fascist" in May 2020.

“No one’s perfect but I’ve never met anyone who goes through more personal pain to fight for an inspiring future for humanity - and has done so tirelessly for decades,” Zilis wrote onX(formerly Twitter) at the time. “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion but mine is that there’s no one I respect and admire more.”

So who is the mother of four of Elon Musk’s kids? Here’s everything to know about Shivon Zilis and her relationship with the tech CEO.

She went to Yale University

Shivon Zilis.Shivon Zilis X

Shivon Zilis X

Zilis grew up in Ontario, Canada, but attended college at Yale University where she studied economics and philosophy, she toldUSA Today.While she was a student there, she was also a goalie on the ice hockey team and even tried to join the fencing team at the same time.

She and Musk met while she was working at one of Musk’s companies, OpenAI

Zilis specializes in machine learning and artificial intelligence. She started her career at IBM and Bloomberg, where she worked on internal startups and partnerships with new startups, before heading the venture capital firm Bloomberg Beta.

Zilis is an executive at Neuralink, one of Musk’s companies

Shivon Zilis and Elon Musk with their twins, Strider and Azure.Walter Isaacson/Twitter

Walter Isaacson/Twitter

“AI’s going to be one of the fundamentally transformative technologies humanity creates, if not the most,” she said. “And so we just need to make sure, from a humanity perspective, this goes well.”

Now, Zilis is the director of special projects at the company andjoined the board of Shield AI, a defense technology company focused on using AI for aircrafts, in September 2023.

She and Musk share four children

Shivon Zilis with her twins, Strider and Azure.Shivon Zilis/X

In November 2021, Zilis and Musk secretly welcomed twins, Strider and Azure, in Austin, Texas. The twins arrived just weeks before Musk welcomed a child via surrogate with his then-partner, Grimes.

The day after the news was announced, Musk addressed the birth of his twins on X, writing that he was doing his “best to help the underpopulation crisis.”

A year later, Muskrevealed the names and sexof the twins when they were 16 months old.

In June 2024, the tech CEO confirmed toPage Sixthat he and Zilis had welcomed their third child.

“As for ‘secretly fathered,’ that is also false," he told the outlet in a statement. “All our friends and family know. Failure to issue a press release, which would be bizarre, does not mean ‘secret.’ ”

Their daughter, Arcadia, was born on Feb. 28, 2024 — details Zilis shared onXin February 2025. The tech exec also revealed onXthat she and Musk had welcomed their fourth child, son Seldon Lycurgus. His birthdate, however, was not announced.

“He really wants smart people to have kids, so he encouraged me to do this,” she said. “I can’t possibly think of genes I would prefer for my children.”

Zilis had a disagreement with Grimes, one of Musk’s partners

Shivon Zilis ; Elon Musk ; Grimes.Shivon Zilis/Facebook, JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty, Frazer Harrison/Getty

Shivon Zilis/Facebook, JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty, Frazer Harrison/Getty

After Isaacson posted an excerpt of his book in September 2023 revealing the names and sex of the twins, Grimesreacted in a since-deleted poston X, writing, “Tell Shivon to unblock me and tell Elon to let me see my son or plz respond to my lawyer. I have never even been allowed to see a photo of these children until this moment, despite the situation utterly ripping my family apart.”

After deleting the post, Grimes apologized and explained that she attempted to keep her children private and has mended her relationship with Zilis.

“I spoke with Shivon at length finally, which was long overdue,” she wrote in aposton X. “This wasn’t her fault, plz [sic] don’t be angry at her! We respect each other a lot and we’re excited to become friends and have the kids grow up together.”

Grimes explained that communication regarding the twins “wasn’t handled super well in the past,” but has since been resolved and forgiven.

“Women are so often pitted against each other,” she wrote. “Speaking with Shivon, it’s very evident she’s an amazing human and we both just want what’s best for our kids.”

Zilis responded with aposton X of her own, writing that “at the end of the dayit all ended up for the best!”

source: people.com