Vivian Wilson, the 21-year-old daughter of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, has chosen a life very different from what most people would expect of the child of the world’s richest man. Despite her father’s enormous $489.7 billion fortune, Wilson says she worries about finances and lives modestly in Los Angeles with three roommates because it is “cheaper.”
Life beyond Musk’s wealth
Many assume Wilson has unlimited financial resources, but she revealed in an interview with New York Magazine that she is financially independent and far from wealthy. “I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars at my disposal,” she explained, pushing back against the misconception that she automatically benefits from her father’s empire.
Childhood and education
Wilson is the eldest of Musk’s 14 children, born from multiple relationships. She grew up between several schools after her parents, Elon Musk and Canadian author Justine Wilson, divorced. At one point, she attended the elite Crossroads School in Santa Monica, where she shared a class with Apple Martin, daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow. However, Wilson described feeling out of place, calling the atmosphere “exactly what you’d expect of a private school full of nepo babies.”
Strained relationship with Elon Musk
The relationship between Wilson and Musk deteriorated sharply after she came out as transgender at age 16. In 2022, she filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court to legally change her name and gender, stating she no longer wished to be related to her biological father “in any way, shape, or form.”
Musk, meanwhile, publicly criticised her transition. In a 2023 interview with psychologist Jordan Peterson, he controversially claimed that his daughter had been “killed by the woke mind virus.” Wilson later clapped back online, writing that she was “indeed, not dead” and describing Musk as “uncaring” and “narcissistic.”
Online hate and public scrutiny
Along with media attention, Wilson has also faced online harassment. She shared that hateful messages flood her inbox, with strangers sending disturbing and offensive remarks. “It makes me feel gross,” she admitted. Wilson added that her words are often misrepresented, as people twist her statements into things she never intended.
Despite the controversies surrounding her family name, Wilson is determined to carve out her own future. She has separated her identity from Musk’s legacy and continues to focus on living independently. As the oldest Musk sibling, her story highlights the complexity of growing up in the shadow of one of the most powerful and polarising figures in the world.
