The former wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin has spoken publicly for the first time following reports that she had a sexual affair with Elon Musk — claiming in a new interview that it never happened and that she and the billionaire Tesla boss are just friends.
Nicole Shanahan faced an onslaught of media scrutiny last year after a bombshell Wall Street Journal report alleged that she and Musk had “engaged in a brief affair” in late 2021.
While the report said the alleged tryst led Brin to file for divorce and end his longtime friendship with Musk, an attorney for Shanahan called the story an “outright lie.”
Musk also denied the affair and sent The Post a selfie of him and Brin hanging out after the report’s publication.
In her first public interview on the situation, 37-year-old Shanahan told People that she and Musk were friends and said they had discussed the potential of his brain chip company Neuralink for “helping my daughter with her autism treatment” — but their relationship never turned romantic.
“Did Elon and I have sex, like it was a moment of passion, and then it was over? No,” Shanahan said. “Did we have a romantic relationship? No. We didn’t have an affair.”
“It was a conversation that was very meaningful about life and how people show up for one another,” added Shanahan. “To be painted with such a massive scarlet letter for it just seems so unfair.”
Shanahan told the outlet that she and Musk were part of the same larger social circle in Silicon Valley, but she did not consider him one of her closest friends.
“There’s a community of friendship involving not just Sergey and Elon but many other people in the tech world — investors, founders, really big thinkers, dreamers and doers,” Shanahan said.
“Elon was another person in this group of people. There’s almost this generational ecosystem and it’s a community. You run ideas past each other and you ask questions.”
Shanahan purportedly faced a barrage of online insults and attacks following the report’s releae, with some referring to her as a “gold digger,” according to People. She felt the media’s handling of the situation effectively washed out her professional accomplishments.
Shanahan said she has a “strong sense” of who may have leaked the story to the Journal and “what they were motivated by.”
“It would be very easy to be angry and to feel defamed and seek clarity,” Shanahan said. “In practical terms I understand why they did it, but in a deeper, spiritual context, I can’t understand — I would never do anything like that.”
“I forgive you, and I’m moving on,” she added.
The People interview also touched on the end of Shanahan’s marriage to Brin. At one point during the sit-down, Shanahan reportedly began “smiling wide” after she received an email from her attorney confirming the divorce was finalized.
Shanahan is now dating Lightning Labs vice president Jacob Strumwasser. The pair, who met at Burning Man, held a “love ceremony” in May rather than have a traditional wedding, according to People.
The alleged affair sparked a firestorm of speculation about a rift between Musk and Brin – two of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful tech executives. Brin once provided $500,000 in funding to Tesla when the electric vehicle maker was in the throes of the 2008 financial crisis.
Musk, 52, is the world’s richest person, with an estimated net worth of nearly $250 billion as of Wednesday, while Brin ranks 11th with a net worth of $98.6 billion.
“We stand by our reporting,” the Wall Street Journal said in a statement to People on Shanahan’s interview.
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