Um, ICYMI, Elon Musk Repeatedly Asked Employee to ‘Have His Babies,’ Punished Her for Declining

I hardly thought it was possible to be more disgusted with Elon Musk, between his addiction to internet transphobia, his frequent neo-Nazi dog whistles, his eugenics-adjacent obsession with human reproduction, the sexual harassment allegation against him, and his cruelty toward and mistreatment of ex-partners. But this week, a bombshell new report from the Wall Street Journal dropped, and it’s somehow slipped through the cracks despite detailing several highly inappropriate relationships Musk shared with employees (including one who was more than 20 years his junior), all of whom seemed to have been pushed out of the company. The Journal‘s report says it focuses on Musk’s “boundary-blurring relationships with women at SpaceX,” which is a very kind way to describe alleged harassment, wildly inappropriate relationships, and sexist exploitation.

In one particularly uncomfortable case described in the report, Musk—who had twins with employee Shivon Zillis back in 2021, which he didn’t discuss with his then-partner Grimes—allegedly repeatedly asked one female employee to have children with him in 2013. Per the Journal, this woman “alleged that Musk had asked her on multiple occasions to have his babies, according to people familiar with the allegations.” She declined but remained at SpaceX, and her working relationship with Musk obviously “deteriorated.” People familiar with the woman’s experience told the outlet that Musk went on to “[deny] the woman a raise” and “[complain] about her performance,” prompting her to exit the company soon thereafter.

Then, in 2014, things somehow got… weirder??? A female employee who worked for both Musk and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell allegedly had an affair with Shotwell’s husband. Then, when Shotwell tried to push this employee out of the company, the Journal reports that Musk began a sexual relationship with the employee, which seems to have gone on for an indeterminate period of time, but was kept largely private: “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,” the Journal reports. When the woman asked if they could have dinner at a restaurant at one point, Musk said they couldn’t be seen in public together due to “ongoing negotiations over a possible divorce from [ex-wife Talulah] Riley,” with whom Musk was separated from at the time. Eventually, this relationship deteriorated; despite numerous texts that show Musk inviting her to his home at night, he later accused her of preying on him: “You insisted on coming to my house to sleep with me when I was just sad and tired and wanted to be alone,” he reportedly wrote in one text message.

A few years later, apparently not done trying to sleep with or impregnate every female employee within arm’s reach, Musk allegedly embarked on a sexual relationship with a much younger former intern while trying to recruit her. In 2017, the young woman was fresh out of college and over 20 years Musk’s junior. Per the Journal:

She and Musk had met years earlier during her internship, when she was still in college. She’d approached him with ideas for improving SpaceX. Her outreach had led to a date, which led to a kiss, and eventually sex, she told friends. The year after her internship, the billionaire had the fresh college graduate flown out to a resort in Sicily, before they ended things.

The former intern took the job on Musk’s executive staff and rejected an invitation from Musk to restart their relationship, per the Journal. But still, “he texted her often and invited her to come over to his Los Angeles mansion at night on multiple occasions.” The woman’s friends told the outlet that she confided in them that “[Musk’s] behavior made her job harder.” Eventually, the woman exited Musk’s executive team and later left the company in 2019. I wonder why!

The Wall Street Journal report comes as, on Wednesday, eight former SpaceX employees filed a new lawsuit against the company and Musk, alleging Musk personally had them fired for writing an open letter that accused SpaceX of similarly fostering a culture of sexual harassment at the company. According to the suit, first reported by NBC, Musk “runs his company in the dark ages—treating women as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size, bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual banter, and offering the reprise to those who challenge the Animal House environment that if they don’t like it they can seek employment elsewhere.”

As admittedly, undeniably weird as some of these newly unearthed stories are, I’m not particularly stunned. After all, Musk reportedly exposed himself to and inappropriately touched a flight attendant, then later settled with her for $250,000, per a 2022 report in Business Insider. Since 2021, several Tesla factory workers have sued the company for fostering a culture of sexual harassment, pointing to Musk’s frequently inappropriate comments and online sex jokes as implicitly giving permission to male employees to act inappropriately, too.

I’ll say it: You guys, I’m starting to think Elon Musk is not a very good person.