In 2010, Elon Musk, then a newly divorced billionaire trying to save Tesla and SpaceX, spoke out against rumors that he had left his wife for actress Tallulah Riley. Musk clarified that he met Riley after his marriage ended and offered his ex-wife an $80 million settlement, which she declined. He was facing $170,000 monthly in legal bills and had invested most of his cash into Tesla's survival. This rare disclosure from Musk, who usually refrains from discussing his personal life, was aimed at damage control rather than gossip.
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00:00Elon Musk once said he'd rather stick a fork in his hand than talk about his personal life,
00:04then did exactly that. This wasn't today's Elon. Back in 2010, he wasn't the world's richest man.
00:10He was a newly divorced, stressed out billionaire just trying to save Tesla and SpaceX. When rumors
00:15hit that he'd abandoned his wife for a young actress, he went against everything he stood
00:19for and spoke up. In a rare essay, Musk said it was all false. He met Tallulah Riley after the
00:25marriage ended and offered his ex-wife an $80 million post-tax settlement, in which she declined,
00:30asking for equity. He was covering $170,000 a month in legal bills, mostly going to her lawyers,
00:36and nearly all his cash was already poured into saving Tesla from collapse. This wasn't gossip,
00:41it was damage control. Before he was trolling Twitter or running six companies, Musk was just
00:45trying to survive and defend his name. Does the world have a right to personal answers from public
00:50figures? Follow at Benzinga for more business stories that hit deeper than the headlines.