Foreign media revealed Musk's SpaceX affair: he had an affair with a number of female subordinates and asked a female supervisor to give birth to a baby

Little starling in the circle

2024-06-12 15:14Posted on the official account of Beijing Science and Technology Starling

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Musk once had a "father-daughter relationship" with an engineering intern at SpaceX, and even invited him to join him after graduation, hoping to rekindle the old relationship.
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A SpaceX flight attendant complained that Musk was naked in front of her and courted her by sending off a horse.
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A woman who left SpaceX in 2013 revealed that Musk had repeatedly asked her to have children for her.
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Musk had a 1-month romantic relationship with a female SpaceX employee in 2014 and eventually broke up in an unpleasant way.

Foreign media revealed Musk's SpaceX affair: he had an affair with a number of female subordinates and asked a female supervisor to give birth to a baby

On June 12, it was reported that the Wall Street Journal recently interviewed more than 40 people, including former employees of Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX, people who know about the interaction between Musk and female employees, and relatives and friends of the women involved, and checked relevant emails, text messages and other documents, revealing Musk's complex emotional entanglements in SpaceX. The report pointed out that Musk has an ambiguous relationship with a number of female subordinates and interns, and what is even more shocking is that he has repeatedly asked a female executive to give birth to a child for him.

01 "father-daughter love" with a difference of more than 20 years

The experiences of four of these women are well known.

In 2017, Musk personally reached out to an engineering expert who had interned at SpaceX to discuss the possibility of her taking on a key role on the company's executive team. The female graduate told friends that she was about to take on a problem-solving specialist position at the prestigious rocket company, which was undoubtedly a dream opportunity for a young talent like her.

Her acquaintance with Musk dates back to an internship a few years ago, when she was still in college. During that time, she gave Musk unique ideas for improving SpaceX. She revealed to friends that these efforts not only led to a date with Musk, but also created an intimate personal bond between the two.

The year after the internship ended, Musk invited the recent college graduate to spend time with him at a resort in Sicily, according to the disclosed documents. However, soon after, the two ended their relationship.

Although Musk is more than 20 years older than the woman, he tried to rekindle his old relationship in 2017, but was politely rejected by the other party. As she struggled to adjust to her new job, the two remained in frequent contact. Musk sent her text messages from time to time and invited her to his mansion in Los Angeles several times. Although she sometimes accepts invitations, she has confided in friends that Musk's behavior has put some extra pressure on her job.

According to her friends and people familiar with her work at SpaceX, she eventually chose to leave Musk's management team and left SpaceX in 2019. Her lawyer provided her with two non-disclosure agreements, signed by herself, confirming many details of the relationship, including the fact that she had been in a relationship with Musk.

She confided in friends that during her time at SpaceX, she felt frustrated and powerless, and she found it difficult for her voice to be taken seriously by the executives. She even revealed that sometimes she hides alone in the bathroom of SpaceX to reflect. In a non-disclosure agreement, she revealed what it was like to work at SpaceX: "It's not about any romance or personal dealings with Musk. As a new member of the company, my role was challenging. ”

Despite her efforts to establish herself in the company, she has been invited to Musk's home several times, according to people familiar with the matter and friends. In an email provided by a lawyer, she said that Musk's lukewarm attitude towards her had exacerbated her work woes and that her deep background expertise had not worked.

She mentioned in a testimony that she and Musk are often in contact via text messages because of her willingness to support him when he is in trouble, whether it is Tesla's plight or his marital problems with actress Talulah Riley.

Actress Dalula Riley with Elon Musk

She revealed that during several visits to Musk's home, they watched animations, chatted, and delved into Tesla's Model 3 production ramp-up and "the future of human technology." She has told friends that her work is not going well because of her delicate relationship with Musk. Eventually, she had to move from an executive position to report to another engineer. In 2019, she made the decision to leave SpaceX.

She stressed that during the time she worked at SpaceX from 2017 to 2019, there was no "romantic relationship" between her and Musk. After breaking up with Musk, the two still maintained a friendly relationship.

02 Ambiguous relationships with many female subordinates

At SpaceX, the intern is just one of many female employees. They have all reported to friends, family or companies that Musk has shown unusual attention to them and even tried to pursue them.

In 2022, media reported that a flight attendant complained to SpaceX that Musk was naked in front of her and courted her. According to people familiar with the matter, the flight attendant, a contract employee of SpaceX, claimed in a 2018 corporate mediation that Musk had offered to give her a horse in return for courtship while she was giving him a massage. After she refused, SpaceX cut her shifts. Eventually, the company agreed to pay her $250,000 to settle the settlement.

However, Musk denied all of the flight attendant's allegations, insisting that they were "completely untrue." However, according to LinkedIn profiles of former SpaceX employees and former flight attendants, Musk did have intersections with flight attendants in the past, including in 2016, the year the flight attendant claimed the incident occurred.

Subsequently, SpaceX's No. 2 man, President Gwynne Shotwell, defended Musk in a company-wide email, refuting the flight attendant's allegations. She wrote: "I personally believe that these accusations are false. I didn't work for him for nothing, but because I had worked with him for 20 years, during which time I had never seen or heard similar allegations. ”

SpaceX's No. 2 man, President Gwen Shotville

Another woman who left SpaceX in 2013 revealed to the head of human resources and legal during the departure talks that Musk had repeatedly asked her to have a baby for her. Musk, a father of at least ten children, believes that the world is facing a crisis of underpopulation and stresses that high-IQ people should increase fertility.

Musk has repeatedly encouraged SpaceX employees to have children, and stressed that colonizing Mars is a necessary means to protect human civilization in the event of a disaster on Earth. Sending humans to the Red Planet has been his long-held dream and the driving force behind SpaceX's work. In a 2021 interview, Musk claimed: "Civilization will collapse if people don't have more children." Mark my words. ”

However, the female executive refused Musk's request, but she still chose to continue working for Musk at SpaceX, but the relationship between the two took a sharp turn for the worse. In addition to the controversy over childbirth, Musk also refused to give her a raise and questioned her work performance, according to people familiar with the matter. In the end, the woman received more than $1 million in cash and stock as severance compensation in negotiations with SpaceX.

In 2014, a fourth female employee remained in a romantic relationship with Musk for a month, when she reported directly to Musk. The two of them are visible to each other in their office areas, and they often communicate frequently about work matters. In addition to her main responsibilities at SpaceX, she also has to work up to 17 hours a day to keep up with Musk's ultra-fast pace of work and life, and to assist with Tesla-related matters as well as Musk's personal life chores. However, the relationship ended in an unpleasant way, leading her to blame Musk via text and email when she left the company, and signed an agreement that forbade her from publicly discussing matters related to working under Musk.

03 SpaceX has a culture of sexism and harassment?

Former SpaceX executives, as well as fired employees who filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in 2022, said that the failure of the top group around Musk to apply the company's rules and regulations to the CEO without discrimination has created a culture of sexism and harassment within the company.

They point out that Musk, as a charismatic leader, is adored by many fans and even hailed as a genius, a status that allows him to go unpunished for certain actions. After some of the employees who criticized Musk and demanded greater responsibility from SpaceX were fired, a former engineer recalled: "Musk is SpaceX, SpaceX is Musk." ”

In the face of the allegations, Shotwell said the Wall Street Journal report failed to reflect SpaceX's culture. She stressed: "The lies and misdescriptions in your email are all misleading facts. Even in the face of all the forces that oppose us, I am still amazed at the extraordinary accomplishments that our team achieves every day. Musk is one of the best people I know. ”

But Shotville promised that SpaceX would thoroughly investigate all harassment complaints and take appropriate action.

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