The whole “Elon Musk banged Sergey Brin’s wife” story seemed odd from the start. The Wall Street Journal broke the story exclusively, that Google co-founder Sergey Brin had filed for divorce from Nicole Shanahan because he learned that Nicole had an affair with Musk. Why is the WSJ breaking THAT story? Weirdly, it might have been more believable coming from Rupert Murdoch’s other New York-based publication, the NY Post. Hours after the WSJ published, Elon Musk was on Twitter, denying the story entirely and saying that he and Brin are still friends and that Musk has only seen Nicole a few times in recent years and there was no sex anywhere. Now Nicole’s people are denying the story too.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s estranged wife blasted a report claiming she had an affair with Elon Musk, calling it an “outright lie.”
Via her attorney, Nicole Shanahan even went so far as to suggest the rumors were defamatory.
“Make no mistake, any suggestion that Nicole had an affair with Elon Musk is not only an outright lie but also defamatory,” Shanahan’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, told Page Six Wednesday morning.
The Wall Street Journal published a report Sunday claiming that Musk and Shanahan had an affair last December after meeting at Miami’s Art Basel. Brin, 48, and Shanahan, 33, were separated but still living together at the time of the affair in December, a person close to her told the publication. Brin, who is close friends with the SpaceX mogul, filed for divorce in January, citing “irreconcilable differences.”
To give credit where it’s due, several people suggested that the WSJ story could be some kind of tactic in Nicole and Brin’s divorce. I believe that now – this was Brin’s people spreading rumors about Nicole, but Brin’s people only know how to leak sh-t to the Wall Street Journal and not Page Six or TMZ. If the story originated from Brin’s team, it could have been a retaliatory measure considering that Nicole’s lawyers are trying to get the prenup thrown out!! She signed the prenup when she was pregnant, and her lawyers say that she only signed it “under duress.” Nicole wants a cool $1 billion from Brin, which would be about 1% of his net worth. So after Nicole tried to get the prenup thrown out, Brin was like “tell people she banged Elon!”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – SEPTEMBER 25: Nicole Shanahan and husband/Co-Founder of Google/Alphabet Sergey Brin arrive at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on September 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 634411543, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Nicole Shanahan, Sergey Brin, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- (FILE) Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin Files For Divorce From Nicole Shanahan. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – SEPTEMBER 25: American author Nicole Shanahan and husband/Co-Founder of Google/Alphabet Sergey Brin arrive at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on September 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 634411559, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Nicole Shanahan, Sergey Brin, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City,Image: 688277550, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Elon Musk, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City,Image: 688277560, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Elon Musk, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- (FILE) Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin Files For Divorce From Nicole Shanahan. MOUNTAIN VIEW, SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, USA – DECEMBER 04: American author Nicole Shanahan and boyfriend/President of Alphabet/Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin arrive at the 2017 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony held at the NASA Ames Research Center on December 4, 2016 in Mountain View, Santa Clara, California, United States.,Image: 700801666, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Nicole Shanahan, Sergey Brin, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
The wealthy are the worst.
I thought these rumors came out during a party where Elon and Nicole were looking friendly together. Maybe that was a long game because this divorce was always in the works since they were separated, but living together in a massive mansion.
Ew. But why would the WSJ carry water for Sergey Brin, like that? Does Murdoch owe him some favors?
Incorrect. Bezos owns the Washington Post. News Corp, which is Murdoch, owns the Wall Street Journal.
@Ramona – nope, it is owned by Murdoch’s group. And @Bisynaptic – Sergey Brin & Elon Musk both denied this in a photo together on social media together. This is widely believed to be a ploy to drive stock prices down either for Twitter or Tesla, hence the ‘reporting’ in WSJ.
I would guess it’s more about taking down Musk than owing Sergey. Shanahan is just collateral damage, but she’s a woman, so it doesn’t matter. /s. Obviously.
The WSJ has extremely strict editorial standards and protocols on the news side (source: know a whole slew of journalists there. If it made it through that multi-layer editorial process, it is accurate). There is 0% chance this was published without multiple sources or primary confirmation, even if it was on background.
If you look at Elon’s statements and her statements, they are carefully dancing around the situation semantically. The true definition of “affair” is just a romantic entanglement, but the colloquial meaning revolves around extramarital activities. They are leaning into the latter (probably because of the separation), but that doesn’t mean the journal’s description isn’t factually accurate.
The WSJ reported that Musk apologized to Brin in front of a bunch of people at a private party, that he apparently got down on one knee to beg forgiveness. There were supposedly a bunch of witnesses.
It’s such a weird claim that it actually sounds true to me: Musk does some wild stuff, and that is true “bros before hoes”, red pill, misogynistic behavior. “I went after your chick, fellow Master of the Universe! Forgive me! Our alliance is more important than the mother of your child! The kid will get over it when it realizes that we protected it’s wealth!”
I bet she gets it thrown out. My mom got hers thrown out because she was asked to sign it the morning of the wedding. Mind you her legal counsel was her and my dads mutual friend who assured her it was all fine. So there was that too.
But I think they can reasonably argue that since she was pregnant she had hormones going/felt pressure to sign, etc.
Rich guys think they can play the women in their life’s and then get so but hurt when the women figure out the plays and use them against them.
Interesting observation. Thanks! Now I’m curious too.
She should release a statement declaring “Have you seen those recent pics of pale, middle aged Elon? I have better taste in men!”
*looks at her husband* Does she tho?
WSJ is doubling down on their sources and claims. My guess is Shanahan’s lawyer is doing a play on legalistic terminology: an “affair” did not occur because she was separated from Brin. However, as they were still legally married, Brin can probably use the infidelity to reinforce or entitle her to less than what’s in the prenup, as I would wager that there’s a clause about that in there.
It makes more sense to me that the ex-husband would spread this rumor due to divorce proceedings now that I know Nicole is trying to get the prenup thrown out. Leaking an affair to the Wall Street Journal is truly one of the weirdest things I’ve ever heard–it’s mostly a financial/business oriented publication? It doesn’t usually deal with salacious gossip about affairs and celebrities. I can only think Sergey didn’t go to People or some other celebrity outlet because he thought the affair story being broken by the WSJ would be take more seriously because it’s a “serious” publication.
Now I’m not saying Elon is the most honest person in the world (see him trying to exit his Twitter deal lol) but he doesn’t usually lie about his love life/kids? Like when the story broke that one of his employees gave birth and it was confirmed he was the father, he didn’t deny it. Notably Sergey Brin isn’t saying anything. And I don’t know why Nicole would lie about not having an affair with Elon. Or they fooled around while she was separated and Sergey is calling it “an affair.” Such a weird story.
Over on the political side of Twitter there is the assumption that this is someone trying to damage Musk while his legal case trying to void the Twitter he signed is pending. There are probably multiple people willing to talk to the WSJ anonymously vouching that Musk had an affair if it knocks another billion or two off Tesla’s valuation.
I’m almost tempted to believe Elon because I think he likes to procreate the old fashion way, via IVF. However these people are truly the worst. If you are divorcing the founder of Google and gave him a child a billlion is the least you should get.
I would deny this one too..ewww