Sergey Brin Google co founder filed to divorce estranged wife Nicole Shanahan after allegedly cheating with Elon Musk amid ongoing scandal involving the billionaires. Tesla CEO now denies affair ever took place.
The estranged wife of Google co Founder, Sergey Brin is demanding a $1 billion cut in divorce settlements following a ‘brief’ affair she had with uber billionaire, Elon Musk in December. An affair that the Tesla boss categorically denied ever taking place following the release of a report pointing him as the culprit behind Brin and his wife’s marital demise.
Nicole Shanahan, according to a Sunday released Wall Street Journal report is alleged to have an intimate relationship with the Tesla CEO, after the pair meeting at Miami’s Art Basel in December.
At the time of the alleged extramarital affair, Brin, 51 and Shanahan, 33, a Stanford-educated lawyer, were separated but still living together according to a source cited by the WSJ.
Brin, who’s worth $90 billion, upon discovering about his wife’s alleged dalliance with the Tesla boss who he once propped with a $500,000 capital injection during the 2008 financial crises, filed for divorce in January, citing ‘irreconcilable differences.’
In a tweet overnight, Musk wrote: ‘This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night! I’ve only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic.’ The tech boss gave a little more intimate information, claiming: ‘Haven’t even had sex in ages (sigh)’.
Elon Musk’s allegedly banged Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s wife leading to the couple’s divorce filing. The two are apparently no longer friends. @elonmusk https://t.co/87JEc3fSe6
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) July 24, 2022
Tesla boss begged long time friend for forgiveness
Sources cited by the Journal say Nicole is now seeking $1billion in their divorce – a fraction of her husband’s $90 billion wealth but allegedly more than he says she is entitled to under the conditions of their prenup.
Shanahan is arguing that he forced her to sign the prenup under duress while pregnant, according to the WSJ.
Brin according to the report also ordered his financial advisers to liquidate his investments in Musk’s various companies amid growing tension between the billionaires.
Musk who at one point faced financial catastrophe has since gone on to become the world’s richest man, with a net worth of $253 billion, surpassing his one time benefactor who made the bulk of his wealth as one of the pioneers of Google.
Of note, Musk after being bailed out by his former close friend went on to gift the Google boss one of Tesla’s first all-electric SUVs.
At a party after Sergey filed for divorce, Musk is said to have run into him and begged for his forgiveness. Publicly, he accepted his apology but the two – who were once close friends – are no longer on regular speaking terms, the Journal’s sources say. A claim that Musk refuted in his Sunday overnight tweet.
Musk according to sources had over the years had ‘regularly crashed’ at Brin’s home in Silicon Valley.
Elon Musk had affair with Google founder Sergey Brin’s wife. Brin & Elon Musk were good friends before the affair. This was during the same month that Elon Musk welcomed a baby girl with Grimes, & then a few weeks later having twins with a subordinate. pic.twitter.com/eKfQ55ypZo
— SAY CHEESE! 👄🧀 (@SaycheeseDGTL) July 24, 2022
Elon Musk latest scandal
Fractures in Brin’s marriage to Shanahan are reported to have occurred amid the stress of COVID-19 along with the power couple also arguing over the care of their 4 year old daughter.
It remained unclear how long the extramarital affair with Musk lasted, with sources saying it occurred in the same month that the Tesla boss welcomed a baby girl via a surrogate with his ex-girlfriend, Canadian pop singer, Grimes, and a month after he secretly welcomed twins with a former executive from one of his companies.
Musk who has fathered no less than 10 children with a string of women, including five with his first wife, Justine, is now involved with 27 year old Australian actress, Natasha Bassett, whom he started dating in February.
The affair, is the latest scandal to befall Musk, who is now embroiled in an ongoing legal dispute with Twitter who are now suing the billionaire for removing his $44 billion bid to buy the social media giant.
The quagmire led to doubts about Twitter’ future, its real user base amid claims of bot fake users, with the outlet missing expectations with second quarter revenue of $1.18billion.
On Friday, the company blamed Musk for disrupting business with his dramatic hostile bid take-over, then sudden about-turn.
Breaking: Elon Musk reportedly had an affair with the wife of Google Cofounder and longtime friend Sergey Brin, prompting his divorce earlier this year! Donald Trump of tech!
— Alicia (@Alicia0Givens) July 24, 2022
If you’re a famous man, your wife is either having an affair with Pete Davidson or Elon Musk
— John W. Rich (Fake Tech Exec) (@Cokedupoptions) July 24, 2022
From poverty to riches
In May, a former SpaceX flight attendant accused the company of paying her $250,000 to keep quiet about an incident involving Musk. The victim claims Musk asked her for a massage, exposed himself to her, and propositioned her for sex.
When Brin filed for divorce in January, the real reason for the divorce was not clear.
He cited ‘irreconcilable differences’ in divorce papers but asked for the docket to be sealed to protect his young daughter.
The Google founder has asked to share custody of her as part of the divorce arrangements, which the estranged couple are seeking to keep private out of fear that their daughter will be put at risk of ‘harassment’ or ‘kidnapping’.
Sergey and Nicole met at a yoga retreat in 2016, according to the Journal. She was, at the time, a patent lawyer and tech entrepreneur in her own right.
In an interview with a San Francisco magazine, Shanahan revealed growing up with adversity, with her father being diagnosed as a bipolar schizophrenic and her Chinese mother, a newly arrived immigrant at the time of her birth, unable to find work – with both parents unemployed.
She told of growing up on food stamps and bussing tables when she was 12, and how the internet changed her life.
‘Without the internet I would probably still be in Oakland doing the same thing I was doing age 12,’ she said in the feature.
Shanahan eventually graduated from prestigious Ivy League school, Stanford with a law degree and currently works as a patent lawyer and founder at Bio-Echa, an investment firm that invests money into projects like bolstering ‘reproductive longevity’.
Brin was previously married to 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki from 2007 to 2015, and they share son Benji, 13, and daughter Chloe, 11. The couple’s marriage is alleged to have ended following allegations of Brin having an affair with Google Glass marketing manager Amanda Rosenberg.
The Russian-American internet entrepreneur co-founded Google with Larry Page in 1998, and although they both stepped down from their executive positions with the search engine’s holding company Alphabet in 2019, Brin still retains a controlling stake, according to Forbes.
Musk to date has publicly declined to comment on the alleged affair with Brin’s estranged wife.
