For attractive ladies seeking fame, fortune and loads of ongoing attention, being the wife of Elon Musk seems like a pretty good gig. It does come with a serious drama factor, though, and no one knows this better than Talulah Riley, the British actress who married and divorced him, not once but twice!
The Musk-Riley Saga
Elon first met Talulah Riley in 2008, on a night out at a bar called Whisky Mist in Mayfair, West London. Around this time, Elon had just divorced his first wife, Justine Wilson.
The Tesla CEO has talked frequently about how he loves the feeling of being in love, but anyone who’s ever searched for a life partner knows that the hidden message here is that all bets may be off once the bloom is off the proverbial rose.
They got hitched in 2010, and two years later things began going downhill between them. This is where the plot twist enters the romantic picture. They managed to reconcile and remarry, but round 2 of their marriage was even shorter, lasting just a year and featuring a New Year’s Eve divorce filing.
Musk pulled the divorce petition, but Riley was determined to stay the course. She refiled the petition, and divorce #2 became final in 2016.
Riley’s Post-Divorce Career
After the break up Riley didn’t fade into post-Musk obscurity. The actress was already famous from her “Pride and Prejudice” days, while others know her from her roles in St. Trinian’s, “Inception” and “Westworld.”
Unlike many celeb actresses, Riley has literary interests that go well beyond playing leading roles in Jane Austen adaptations. Her post-divorce life after Elon included writing fiction, and in 2016 she released her first novel, “Acts of Love,” which was followed by a dystopian title, “The Quickening.”
New Beginnings and Unfortunate Controversies
That title also reflects the pace of Riley’s ongoing dating life. She did round 2 of the older-guy thing with 59-year old pottery tycoon Matthew Rice, but Riley recently split up with Rice and began hunting younger game.
In July 2023, Talulah got engaged to Thomas Brodie-Sangster, the baby-faced actor famous for appearing in “Love, Actually” at 13 years old. The two met on the set of the Sex Pistols drama, with Riley playing fashion designer Vivienne Westwood while Brodie-Sangster took up the role of pop svengali Malcolm McLaren.
Controversy has followed Riley rather diligently in her dating life, and unfortunately that controversy included rumors associated with Jeffery Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Those rumors had Maxwell setting up Riley as a child bride for Elon Musk, but both Musk and Riley have vehemently denied those rumors.
Musk did eventually reveal that the couple was at Epstein’s house in Manhattan but insisted that they were only there for 30 minutes and saw nothing untoward happen while they were there.
So how has Riley used the millions she got after her multiple divorces from Musk? Why, living the life of Riley, of course, on a farm outside LA where she raises goats and chickens and picks and chooses her acting gigs. It’s estimated Riley has a net worth of $25 million!
