Elon Musk has had plenty of headline-making relationships, but the woman who knew him before the rockets and the billions is finally telling her side. Justine Wilson, his first wife and the mother of five of his children, is one of the central voices in Musk, Alex Gibney’s nearly four-hour documentary about the tech mogul. The film opened in New York and Los Angeles on October 9, 2026, ahead of a nationwide rollout, according to TheWrap.
Learn more about Justine, her life with Elon and what she reveals in the film below.
Justine grew up in Peterborough, Ontario, and built a career as a fantasy writer. Her debut novel, BloodAngel, was published in 2005, and she has written candidly over the years about ambition, identity and life inside a high-powered marriage.
The pair met as students at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, when Justine was 18 and Elon was 19. They married in January 2000 in Saint Martin and divorced in 2008. In a 2010 essay for Marie Claire, Justine opened up about feeling like a trophy wife as Elon’s fortune grew.
Justine and Elon welcomed their first son, Nevada, in 2002, but he died of sudden infant death syndrome at just 10 weeks old. They went on to welcome twins Griffin and Vivian in 2004, followed by triplets Damian, Kai and Saxon in 2006.
In the film, Justine recalls Elon telling her during their wedding’s first dance that he was the “alpha” in the relationship. She also says she, not Elon, was the one holding Nevada when he died, disputing an account he shared on X. Reflecting on the marriage, she shared a blunt realization with the filmmakers, per Variety.
“I learned the term gaslighting through my relationship with Elon.”
