Elon Musk reportedly had a sexual relationship with a former SpaceX intern, then personally moved her onto his executive team, according to The Wall Street Journal Tuesday. The report says Musk had sex with another of his direct reports in 2014, and a third woman left the company in 2013 after Musk asked her to have his babies.
The long, detailed report displays Musk’s unusual relationship with women at SpaceX, pulled from anonymous conversations with more than 48 people familiar with his interactions at the company. These relationships pile on to a previous report from Business Insider, alleging Musk exposed himself to a SpaceX flight attendant in 2016, and offered her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.
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Separately, eight fired SpaceX engineers filed a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against Musk, according to Bloomberg on Wednesday. The plaintiffs allege Musk created “an unwelcome hostile work environment” and that several former employees experienced sexual harassment from other coworkers that “mimicked Musk’s posts” from Twitter.
The Wall Street Journal shared text messages between a former SpaceX intern and her friends. The texts purportedly show how Musk peppered this young woman, more than 20 years younger, with messages about coming to his home.
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“Are you coming over? If not, I will probably tranq out. Too stressed to sleep naturally,” said one of the texts from Musk, according to the Journal.
“The untruths, mischaracterizations, and revisionist history in your email paint a completely misleading narrative,” said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell in a statement to the Journal. “I continue to be amazed by what this extraordinary group of people are achieving every day even amidst all the forces acting against us. And Elon is one of the best humans I know.”
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Shotwell has frequently defended Musk over the years. However, Musk and Shotwell have allegedly butted heads over a woman Musk had a sexual relationship with. In 2013, Shotwell reportedly accused a woman of having an affair with her husband, and the Journal reports that Shotwell tried to push her out of SpaceX’s executive circle. However, Musk reportedly started a sexual relationship with the same woman in 2014 and pulled her into high-up positions at the time.
Musk asked another woman to have his babies, according to the report, which the founder of SpaceX already has at least 10. When she declined, her relationship with Musk reportedly deteriorated and she left the company not long after. Musk previously had children with Neuralink executive Shivon Zillis in 2021. He frequently states that people need to have more children to address declining birth rates.
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In 2021, former SpaceX employees spoke out about harassment at the company in a public letter. One former employee, Ashley Kosak, put her name on the letter and detailed how she’d been groped and frequently hit on by male employees. Kosak wrote at the time that her complaints to human resources were largely ignored.
The report details a chaotic, but not unfamiliar work culture at Musk’s companies. The Journal previously reported on his rampant drug use, which he later denied. However, testimonies from people like Kosak show how Musk’s actions bleed into the culture of his companies, and affect far more people than just his inner circle.
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