You may not have heard of Australian actress Natasha Bassett before, but with a leading role in this summer’s biggest film and the world’s richest man on her arm – that’s all about to change.
Bassett is dating Tesla CEO Elon Musk, according to Hollywood Life. The rumours first began to swirl on February 17, when a photo of Musk in LA exiting his G650ER private jet —worth a cool £50 million — with a “beautiful red-haired mystery woman” surfaced.
One month later, Musk’s ex Grimes, 34, revealed on the cover of Vanity Fair that she had welcomed a second child into the world with the Tesla entrepreneur via a surrogate. After fans speculated that she was still with the billionaire, Grimes clarified the situation that same day when she revealed they had in fact split. Since then, Musk and Bassett have presumably been keeping their relationship on the down low, giving few clues that they were together — until now.
Fast forward to May 26, when the actress attended the premiere of her upcoming film Elvis with Musk’s mother as her plus one. A day later, Bassett and Musk attended Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel’s star-studded wedding to fashion designer Sarah Staudinger in St.Tropez.
As the newly loved-up couple were snapped dining on french fries at the $1,000+ a night Cheval Blanc Hotel over the weekend, we get to know the young actress who’s won Musk’s heart.
A nature-filled childhood Down Under
Bassett was born and raised in New South Wales, Australia. In a 2017 interview with Vogue Australia, she fondly recalled a wholesome childhood where she would “jump in the ocean every morning of the year, even throughout winter”. The 29-year-old also listed the Bondi to Bronte walk, pancakes at Bogey’s Hole and theatres Gryphon and Belvoir as her teenage stomping ground (and places she still visits whenever she can).
“There’s nothing that compares here. It’s a beautiful part of the world. I miss it all the time,” she continued, “not to mention the Bondi breakfasts."
It was here where she also discovered her love for acting. At just 14 years old she landed the role of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet with the Australian Theatre for Young People, as well as a number of other gigs such as the lead in the Australian TV series Rake. "The thing I love about Australian films is they tend to have a lot of grit, which you don’t always find in Hollywood,” she told the magazine of her home country’s industry. “It’s a smaller community in Australia and everyone looks out for each other. Hollywood is a big beast.”
Bassett was and still is an avid hiker. Her Instagram is peppered with shots of some of America’s most renowned hiking spots, like the Grand Canyon. She captioned a recent post: “A testimony to the power of water. Touch the rocky walls of the canyon, listen to the rush of the Colorado River, and keep an eye out for Condors. They have the best view.” She also has a hiking Instagram Story collection pinned to the top of her profile that she regularly updates with outdoorsy content.
From Oz to Tinseltown via the Big Apple
When Bassett was 19 she moved to New York on a screenwriting scholarship from the ArtStart Screenwriters Program, which allowed her to both write and direct her own short film called “Kite.” According to the actress’ IMDB page, the film was featured in the Rhode Island International Film Festival, Bali International Film Festival and Big Bear Lake International Film Festival. She continues to be immersed in the world of writing to this day, telling Vogue in 2020: “I’m really interested in writing novels at the moment.”
But it’s acting that has always been Bassett’s real focus.
"When you create something that truly affects people – whether it makes them laugh, cry or get really ticked off, whatever it may be – there’s nothing better than trying to make some sense of the human condition through different complex characters and being able to share that with other people,” she told Vogue Australia about her favourite aspect of the job. “The moments I’m on set collaborating with a group of people, who’ve become an instant family that I trust, make me very happy."
Bassett went on to enrol at the Atlantic Acting School in New York, and after completing her degree moved to LA to pursue her dreams of being on the big screen.
A controversial breakout role
Ahead of a trip to London to visit family, Bassett was asked to audition for a character called “Jenny Jean”. She arrived at the 23-page audition loaded with all of her suitcases, but within 45 minutes she got a call from her agent telling her not to get on the plane. A few days later her agent called again to say she had gotten the role and that, “by the way, it’s actually about Britney Spears.” Turns out she had succesfully auditioned for Britney Ever After.
Bassett only had a week to prepare for her life-changing breakout role as the Toxic singer, which she apparently did by watching “every interview and documentary available” and throwing herself into dance lessons. “ââI started talking in her accent right away, and drove my friends and family crazy before I had to head out to Vancouver to shoot,” she said.
However, the role wasn’t without its controversy. When Lifetime released the first few movie stills, many fans were outraged— one called the casting “a hate crime” – though others delighted in the kitschness of it all. What’s more, Bassett played the singer in the early #FreeBritney days in 2017 and Spear’s creative team made it clear that she did not approve of it and was not involved with the making of it.
“I have so much respect and admiration for Britney and what attracted me to doing this movie is that it’s truly a feminist story at its core,” Bassett told Us Weekly. “And as a feminist myself, I was inspired to tell the story of a woman’s journey. She was faced with so many challenges, but she came out at the end so strong and on top.”
As for her next big role, she’ll be playing Elvis Presley’s first girlfriend Dixie Locke is in the upcoming Baz Luhrmann-directed Elvis biopic. She is joined by Austin Butler who plays Elvis himself and A-list actor Tom Hanks, who plays his infamous manager Colonel Tom Parker.
A very important plus one to the Elvis premiere
When Bassett was first spotted with Musk, Twitter users wondered: will they make it red carpet official at the actress’ upcoming Elvis premiere at Cannes?
Unfortunately the tech mogul was nowhere to be seen at the premiere on May 26. “Elon had work obligations and could not go,” a source told Hollywood Life. “Plus, Elon and Natasha are still trying to keep it on the down low.”
However, as previously mentioned, Maye Musk (the SpaceX founder’s mum) was there, and even shared a photo of herself on the red carpet to her Instagram story. The photo also featured a @natashabassett tag with multiple love heart emojis, implying the former Candian-South African model approves of her son’s new girlfriend.
Although the two women did not walk the red carpet together and were careful not to be seen in the same shot at the event, it was later confirmed that Bassett brought her boyfriend’s mum as her date. “Elon and Natasha are still going strong and over time Natasha has developed a solid bond with his mother Maye. Maye is the most important person in Elon’s world and the fact that she adores Natasha means so much to him,” a source told Hollywood Life.
“Natasha scored huge brownie points this week when she asked Maye to go with her to Cannes. Maye is a huge fan of Elvis and thought that it was so amazing that Natasha has a role in the film.”
If mum’s seal of approval is anything to go by, it surely won’t be long until the pair make their official debut. And with the actress garnering rave reviews for her role in this summer’s blockbuster, we’re sure there’ll be plenty more opportunities for them to do so soon.
