Vivian Jenna Wilson[1] (born April 15, 2004) is an American social media personality and member of the Musk family. The eldest daughter of Elon and Justine Musk, Wilson came out as a transgender woman in 2020, and was featured in Teen Vogue in 2025. As of March of 2025, she is studying in Tokyo.
Early life and gender identity
Wilson was conceived by Justine Musk via in vitro fertilization and born in 2004 as a twin.[2] She began her gender transition at 16.[1]
According to Wilson, her father used sex-selective IVF to ensure she would be a boy, though these are allegations that Elon has not commented on.[3] Wilson has four full siblings: a twin brother, Griffin, and three younger brothers who are triplets; Kai, Saxon, and Damian.[4] When asked about her relationship with her siblings, Wilson replied "I have four siblings. We're going to leave it at that, honey".[5]
She describes Elon as largely absent as she grew up and, when he was around, he could be "cruel" and allegedly harassed her for displaying "femininity and queerness".[6][7] According to Wilson, Elon often instructed her to "appear more masculine".[7] Justine and Elon divorced in 2008, and agreed to share custody of Wilson and her other siblings.[8] She attended the Crossroads School in Santa Monica.[9][10]
Coming out
In an interview with Teen Vogue in 2025, Wilson described coming out as transgender: "There was one night, it was 11:00 p.m., and I was like, I know for a fact I am trans. I had known for a few months at that point, and I was like, I cannot fucking do this anymore. That was the point where puberty was really picking up and everything in my life was completely falling apart. I was constantly having mental breakdowns in the middle of class". Following this, Wilson came out via a publicly posted Instagram story. In her Teen Vogue interview, she expressed regret for not telling her mother first. Reportedly, her mother was very supportive of her transition and was not surprised when Wilson came out. Her father was not as supportive, and according to Wilson, she had not spoken to him in months, but required his permission for her to begin testosterone blockers and hormone therapy.[5]
Wilson began her treatment for gender dysphoria in 2020, which she states Elon did not initially support.[11] However, she was already distancing herself from him at this time.[12] In June 2022, at the age of 18, a California judge approved her request to change her legal name (taking her mother's maiden name[13]) and gender on her birth certificate[13][11] after she applied in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.[14] In the petition for the changes, Wilson stated she no longer wished to be related to Elon "in any way, shape, or form".[15][14] In October 2022, Elon blamed his estranged relationship with Wilson on "neo-Marxist" influences due to the elite university she attended.[16]
Vivian has been vocally critical of Elon's actions and supportive of transgender rights.[17][18] She expressed that Elon was "cold", "quick to anger", "uncaring", and "narcissistic", and that his infrequent visits commonly involved him berating her for being feminine.[19] Elon, separately, shared anecdotes of her as a child singing along to show tunes and choosing outfits for him at age 4, describing her clothes as "fabulous". Wilson alleges that these were lies meant to characterize her as a camp gay man, saying "literally none of this ever happened", and that "I never picked out jackets for him to wear and I was most certainly not calling them 'fabulous' because literally what the fuck".[20][21]
In a July 2024 interview conducted by Jordan Peterson, Elon spoke negatively of Wilson's transition and deadnamed her. He said he was "tricked" into granting her request for gender-affirming treatment, as California law required his permission since Wilson was under 18 at the time. Elon ultimately described her as having been "killed by the woke mind virus" in conjunction with her transition.[6][11] Elon has said that Vivian's gender transition is primarily what sparked his drive to "destroy the woke mind virus".[22][23] Walter Isaacson's biography of Musk argued that some of his far-right views were "partially triggered" by Wilson's gender transition.[24][25] However, Wilson disputes that claim and describes this as "a convenient narrative" and "just not the case", going on to say that Elon moved "further on the right" and "not because of me".[26]
Following the result of the 2024 United States presidential election, Vivian voiced her intention to emigrate from the United States in the future,[27] and after Musk's controversial gesture at Donald Trump's inauguration that has been described as a Nazi salute, she proclaimed "let's call a spade a fucking spade".[28][29][30] In 2025, Wilson was featured on the cover of Teen Vogue.[5][31] Wilson also sat for an interview with them, her second interview with both the publication and in her life.[32][33]
Personality
Teen Vogue described Wilson as "extremely online", and "really good at it", something that Wilson attributes to her time in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was spent "in online communities of queer people who are constantly getting into drama and trying to read each other". She spends hours a day on Discord with her friends and is a fan of RuPaul's Drag Race and Chappell Roan.[5]
Wilson is outspoken about transgender issues, but says that she does not consider this outspokenness to be activism, instead that "I do feel obligated to talk about trans issues. As someone who did transition as a minor, I feel like there's so much villainization of that, and I would really like to raise awareness of the fact that trans care for minors, especially puberty blockers, is really, really important". She described the state of American politics in 2025 as "terrifying".[5]
Political views
Wilson has spoken at length about her political views, describing herself as a leftist while rejecting characterization as a Marxist. She has expressed support for universal basic income, free health-care, reducing wealth inequality, and food, water, and shelter as human rights.[5][34]
When asked if her upbringing influenced her politics, she said "Seeing that kind of wealth – extravagant wealth – firsthand, while living in Los Angeles and seeing the [huge] homelessness problem, the wealth gap ... You start to wonder, how is this fair?" She has also said that her transness has informed her politics, explaining that "If one of the sides of the political spectrum is like, 'Trans people are men who are invading women's spaces to whatever', and they're trying to take away trans health care and trans rights and trying to minimize our visibility, and one of the sides is like, 'No', [then] it kind of has to".[5]
Portrayal
Wilson has criticized the biography Elon Musk by Isaacson as inaccurate and unfair to her. According to her, she was described as a "radical Marxist", while others have described her portrayal as that of "an angry, rebellious child, blinded by radical anticapitalist ideology and hurting her father with her rash decisions".[5] The book also notably referred to her as "Jenna". Isaacson sourced his claims to Christiana Musk, the wife of Elon's brother Kimbal Musk, but never contacted Vivian before printing the claims. Isaacson claims to have reached out to her through family members.[35]
In a series of posts on Threads in August 2024, Wilson said that Isaacson never reached out to her, and described the book as "genuinely defamatory", saying that it deliberately avoided including any testimony by her, in favor of trivializing her trans identity and misconstruing her reasons for separation to make her appear as being "naive", "stupid", and "an irredeemable human being" in order to frame her existence as "a villain-origin backstory" for her father's rightward political shift.[36][37]
Wilson later expanded on this when questioned by Teen Vogue, saying that "He had an agenda when writing his book, which was to make Elon look good, or look more complex than he is. In order to do that, he needed to villainize the trans teenager and make it seem like there were two reasonable sides to the story".[5]
Personal life
Wilson lives and studies in Tokyo. She and her mother are on good terms.[5] She has described her father as "a pathetic man-child", and has been financially independent from him since she first came out as trans in 2020. Prior to achieving prominence, Wilson had hoped to work as a translator, and had been studying French, Spanish, and Japanese to that end. Since then, however, she has considered other possibilities, including Twitch streaming and modeling.[5][38]
Elon's former partner Grimes has defended Vivian, supported her transition, and has stated she is proud of Vivian for speaking out.[39][40]
See also
References
- ^ a b Ingram, David (July 26, 2024). "Elon Musk's transgender daughter, in first interview, says he berated her for being queer as a child". NBC. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
- ^ Musk, Justine (June 1, 2017). Visionaries are People Who Can See In The Dark. TEDx. Event occurs at 00:23. Archived from the original on November 15, 2019 – via YouTube.
- ^ Factora, James (March 10, 2025). "Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk's Estranged Trans Daughter, Says Her Assigned Sex at Birth Was "Bought and Paid For"". Them. Archived from the original on March 21, 2025. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
- ^ "Elon Musk's Son Damian, 17, Says He Became a Vegetarian at Age 8 to 'Decrease My Carbon Footprint'". Peoplemag. Archived from the original on August 3, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Yurman, Ella (March 20, 2025). "Vivian Wilson on Being Elon Musk's Estranged Daughter, Going Viral, and Protecting Trans Youth". Teen Vogue. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
- ^ a b Mahdawi, Arwa (July 27, 2024). "Elon Musk's 20-year-old estranged daughter responded to his rant about her". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on August 3, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ a b Ortiz, Aimee (July 26, 2024). "Elon Musk's Transgender Daughter Says He Was 'Cruel' and 'Uncaring'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ Musk, Justine (September 10, 2010). ""I Was a Starter Wife": Inside America's Messiest Divorce". Marie Claire Magazine. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ Cooke, Richard (2024). Dark Star: The Political Turning of Elon Musk. Schwartz Books Pty. Limited. ISBN 9781743823392.
- ^ Wanjala, Lilian (August 29, 2024). "The story of Elon Musk's transgender daughter, Vivian Wilson". Tuko.co.ke. Retrieved April 2, 2025.
- ^ a b c "Elon Musk's transgender daughter, in first interview, says he berated her for being queer as a child". NBC News. July 25, 2024. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ Yurman, Ella (March 20, 2025). "Vivian Jenna Wilson on Being Elon Musk's Estranged Daughter, Protecting Trans Youth and Taking on the Right Online". Teen Vogue. Retrieved March 20, 2025.
- ^ a b "Elon Musk's daughter granted legal name, gender change". AP News. June 23, 2022. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ a b "Elon Musk: Billionaire's daughter cuts ties with her father". BBC News. June 21, 2022. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Elon Musk's Child Says She Doesn't 'Wish to Be Related' to Billionaire in Petition to Change Name and Gender". Peoplemag. Archived from the original on June 29, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ Blanco, Andrea (October 11, 2022). "Elon Musk reveals bizarre reason for daughter's estrangement". The Independent. Archived from the original on April 6, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ Lubin, Rhian (January 24, 2025). "Elon Musk's daughter gives fiery response to 'Nazi salute' accusations". The Independent. Archived from the original on February 6, 2025. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
- ^ "Elon Musk's Trans Daughter Blasts Stonewall Website Changes". Newsweek. February 14, 2025. Archived from the original on February 17, 2025. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
- ^ Ingram, David (July 24, 2024). "Elon Musk's transgender daughter, in first interview, says he berated her for being queer as a child". NBC. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
- ^ Duffy, Clare (July 25, 2024). "Elon Musk's estranged daughter calls out his 'entirely fake' claims about her childhood | CNN Business". CNN. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
- ^ "Archived copy". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 21, 2025. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Musk says estranged child's gender-affirming care sparked fight against 'woke mind virus'". USA Today. July 22, 2024. Archived from the original on November 15, 2024. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
- ^ "Elon Musk: 'Aren't you entertained?'". Financial Times. October 7, 2022. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
- ^ "Elon Musk became 'anti-woke' because of his daughter's gender transition, book claims". The Independent. September 1, 2023. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
- ^ McDougall, A. J. (August 31, 2023). "Elon Went Anti-Woke After His Daughter Transitioned, Biographer Writes". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved October 26, 2023.
- ^ Wilson, Vivian Jenna (March 20, 2025). "Vivian Wilson on Being Elon Musk's Estranged Daughter, Going Viral, and Protecting Trans Youth". Teen Vogue (Interview). Interviewed by Yurman, Ella. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on March 25, 2025. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
It's such a convenient narrative, that the reason he turned right is because I'm a f**king tr*nny [sic], and that's just not the case.
- ^ Linder, Brian (November 7, 2024). "Elon Musk has cold response to his daughter's reaction to Trump win". pennlive. Archived from the original on November 9, 2024. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
- ^ Billson, Chantelle (January 22, 2025). "Musk's trans daughter responds to 'Nazi salute': 'Let's call a spade a spade'". PinkNews. Archived from the original on February 10, 2025. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
- ^ Adamczeski, Ryan (January 22, 2025). "Elon Musk's trans daughter Vivian Wilson slams Nazi salute". The Advocate. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
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- ^ SHARMA, VERSHA. "Introducing Vivian Wilson: A Letter From Teen Vogue's Editor-in-Chief". teenvogue.com. Teen Vogue. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
- ^ Jokic, Natasha. "Elon Musk's Estranged Daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson Gave An Interview About His "Cringe" Moments And Her Many Siblings". buzzfeed.com. Buzzfeed. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
- ^ Hoffman, Benjamin; Van Syckle, Katie. "An Interview With Elon Musk's Daughter Was Months in the Making". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 23, 2025. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
- ^ "Elon Musk's transgender daughter, in first interview, says he berated her for being queer as a child". NBC News. July 25, 2024. Archived from the original on July 27, 2024. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
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- ^ Harrison Dupré, Maggie (August 12, 2024). "Elon Musk's Daughter Just Torched Walter Isaacson, His (and Steve Jobs's) Biographer". Futurism. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
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- ^ "Why Elon Musk's Daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson Moved Out of the United States to Live in Japan". E! Online. March 20, 2025. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
- ^ Speakman, Kimberlee (July 26, 2024). "Grimes, Who Shares 3 Kids with Elon Musk, Is 'Endlessly Proud' of His Daughter Vivian After She Called Him Out". People. Archived from the original on February 14, 2025. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
- ^ Stewart, Chelsea (August 4, 2024). "Here's What Grimes Had To Say After Elon Musk's Daughter Vivian Called Him An Absentee Dad". HuffPost. Archived from the original on September 14, 2024. Retrieved February 16, 2025.