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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
National
Theresa Braine

Elon Musk denies affair with wife of longtime friend and Google co-founder

Elon Musk has fiercely denied having an affair with the wife of his longtime friend, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, refuting a Wall Street Journal report Sunday alleging a liaison that had ripped asunder not only Brin’s marriage but also the friendship between the two men.

“This is total BS,” the Tesla co-founder tweeted Sunday night of the alleged affair, which is said to have occurred while Brin and now-estranged wife Nicole Shanahan were separated but still living together.

“Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night! I’ve only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic.”

The Wall Street Journal had reported that the friendship between Musk and Brin had tanked after an apparent dalliance between Shanahan and the Tesla founder. This reportedly led to the couple’s divorce.

Musk and Brin have been close pals for years, according to reports. Brin, the world’s eighth-richest human, even helped Musk financially during the 2008 economic crisis.

But last fall, while Brin and Shanahan were on a break though under the same roof, the latter apparently got cozy with the world’s richest man.

Musk and his own girlfriend, the singer Grimes, had broken up in September, though they also welcomed a second child via surrogate in December 2021. Also last fall, yet another Musk paramour, Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, gave birth to twins.

That apparently didn’t stop Musk from allegedly getting busy with his friend’s estranged wife.

The two hooked up at the Miami international art festival Art Basel in early December 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Brin filed for divorce from Shanahan earlier this year for “irreconcilable differences” weeks after learning of the fling, the Journal reported.

Brin and Shanahan have been married four years and have a toddler daughter. They have officially been separated since Dec. 15, 2021.

None of the parties was commenting on the situation, the Journal reported. Shanahan is angling for $1 billion of Brin’s $95 billion fortune.

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