A Complete Timeline Of Grimes And Elon Musk's Relationship

When it comes to unusual celebrity relationships, Claire Boucher, better known as Grimes, and Elon Musk take the cake. On one side, you have a quirky performer known for her unique music, while on the other is the notoriously eccentric Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder. 

Grimes is known for exploring unusual themes in her tunes, including artificial intelligence and aliens. However, she's also renowned for her unfiltered persona and avant-garde style. In 2018, the artist announced on Twitter that she'd legally changed her name to "c" — the common denotation of the speed of light. While on Instagram that same year, she flaunted a huge white-ink back tattoo which she lovingly dubbed her "beautiful alien scars." Musk, by contrast, is simply one of the richest men in the world. However, he likewise has a thing for interplanetary intrigue and founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of making space travel accessible to humans in the near future. 

While the quirky couple may appear to have a relationship full of strange moments, they arguably have more in common than it seems. Per Page Six, the two reportedly met on Twitter in 2018 and bonded over their mutual fascination for everything intergalactic and artificially intelligent. They've been on-again and off-again ever since. So buckle up because this is a wild ride: Here's a complete timeline of Grimes and Elon Musk's relationship history. 

The beginning of Grimes and Elon Musk's relationship started on Twitter back in April 2018. The two flirtatiously tweeted back and forth several times, starting with Elon responding to a tweet from rapper Post Malone. In the post, he said he was listening to "Go Flex" and "Psycho" on a playlist from Grimes and tagged her in the tweet. The singer responded, "glad ur finally listening to cyberpunk speedwae hahaha."

This interaction started a coquettish Twitter courtship that continued for another month. In May 2018, things heated up when Musk tweeted "Rococo basilisk," and social media detectives immediately started digging for answers to what the two random words meant. Intriguingly, the answer was connected to Grimes herself.

According to Page Six, Musk's tweet referenced a joke that Grimes made in her 2015 music video for "Flesh Without Blood." Rococo Basilisk is a combination of the extravagant art style "Rococo" and Roko's Basilisk theory, which highlights the adverse effects artificial intelligence can have on humanity. The tweet was planned to get the singer's attention, with a source telling the outlet, "Elon was researching the idea of joking about Rococo Basilisk, and when he saw Grimes had already joked about it, he reached out to her." The insider also told the publication that Grimes said, "This was the first time in three years that anyone understood the joke." Truly, it was love at first tweet. 

Just one month after their flirtatious tweeting, Grimes and Elon Musk made their public debut as a couple at the Met Gala in May 2018. A source told People, "They've been seeing each other but have been keeping their relationship under the radar." Their romance arrived just a few months after Musk's split from Amber Heard in February 2018.

The couple's style choice was arguably one of the most unique and stunning looks of the event, which included Grimes wearing a glass corset and Musk dressed in a jacket that read "novus ordo seclorum" or "new world order" in white ink, per Page Six. The outfit choices and their alternative theme make sense, given that both Grimes and Musk were involved in piecing together their look. In a video interview, Grimes revealed to Vanity Fair, "We learned a lot about fashion design, this being both of our first fashion design experiences." The singer additionally denied the widespread claim that she was wearing a Tesla necklace at the event and claimed, "But I would wear a Tesla necklace because I believe in sustainable energy." 

Regarding the couple's debut, W Magazine noted that their relationship at the time "may not have been the most anticipated," but "it certainly was the most surprising" given that no one had any suspicions about a romance between the two unlikely celebrities. 

In August 2018, Grimes and Elon Musk hit a rough patch and were rumored to have broken up amidst some intense interpersonal and business drama played out online. On August 7, 2018, Musk posted on Twitter that he was considering making his multi-billion dollar company, Tesla, private for $420. In a follow-up reply, he wrote, "Shareholders could either sell at 420 or hold shares & go private." The tweet sent the financial world into a spin, as his claim would make Tesla's stock $420 per share, which would potentially be "an illegal manipulation of the market," according to New York. 

Ultimately, Musk did not make Tesla private and had just made a bad joke. However, on August 13, Azealia Banks posted a wild set of since-deleted Instagram Stories purportedly made while in the home of the tech-billionaire and his indie-pop girlfriend, per Vogue. The "212" rapper alleged that she was there to collaborate on music with Grimes and that Musk was "stressed" and "scrounging for investors" following his tweet about privatizing Tesla. Meanwhile, Banks griped that she "waited all weekend while Grimes coddled her boyfriend."  

While Musk didn't address her specific claims, a spokesperson told Business Insider that "Elon has never even met Ms. Banks or communicated with her in any way." The drama seemingly caused strain on the couple, and on August 19, they unfollowed each other on both Instagram and Twitter. 

The Tesla tweeting scandal resulted in Elon Musk stepping down as chairman of Tesla's board and a whopping $20 million fine from the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to CBS News. However, two months after the tweets, Musk and Grimes had reconciled and were back together again. In October 2018, the "Player of Games" performer was seen going on a family trip with Musk and five of his children to a pumpkin patch in Culver City, California, per Daily Mail.

The couple mainly remained private throughout the remainder of the year but did attend Kim Kardashian's Christmas Eve party on December 24, 2018. As seen in Kardashian's Instagram post (above), the couple were pictured mingling with the star as well as Kayne West, Travis Scott, Quavo, and Saweetie.

A few months later, Grimes opened up to WSJ Magazine about some of the challenges in her highly publicized relationship with Musk, particularly in light of some of his controversies. That included her posting a since-deleted reply on Twitter defending him against allegations that he was anti-union. "I was simply unprepared," she explained, "... I just thought I could keep going along in my funny little way, and then you casually respond to someone in a tweet, and it's on Fox News, and you're like, 'Ugh,' you know?" In a series of scattered, evasive answers to the outlet Grimes further confirmed that she loved her billionaire beau in spite of those obstacles.

The remainder of 2019 was relatively quiet in terms of Grimes and Elon Musk's relationship. But a year later, Grimes had shattered the internet with some big news. On January 28, 2020, the singer announced that she was pregnant on Instagram. In the picture, Grimes posed partially nude with what appeared to be the translucent facade of a digitally-faked baby in her stomach, along with the caption, "Censored for insta haha – almost got away with it."

In March 2020, Grimes told Rolling Stone of the difficulty women face in "sacrificing your body and your freedom" to pregnancy. "It was really profound to me when I decided I was going to do it," she said. According to the singer, the decision ultimately came down to the simple fact that she "just really love[s]" her boyfriend.

Two months after her interview, Grimes gave birth to a boy, X Æ A-12 Musk. The couple's son arguably has the most unique name in history, but because of California law, his name had to be changed to X Æ A-Xii, per CNET. As for the inspiration behind the baby name, Grimes posted an explanation on Twitter saying that X represents "the unknown variable," and Æ is her "elven spelling" of AI, which represents love or artificial intelligence. A-12 represents Archangel 12 — a precursor to the SR-71 airplane which she described as being the couple's "favorite" for being "great in battle, but non-violent."

The lack of drama between Grimes and Elon Musk did not last. Nearly two weeks after the birth of their son, Grimes' mother, Sandy Garossino, openly shamed the Tesla CEO on Twitter. On May 17, 2020, Musk tweeted "Take the red pill" with a red rose emoji next to it. According to The Atlantic, though the term originates from the 1999 film "The Matrix," it's since become a "radicalized" term associated with the alt-right.

The tweet immediately drew criticism from users on the platform, Garossino included. In response to Musk's tweet, she wrote the since-deleted response, "If your partner went through a challenging pregnancy and childbirth in the last two weeks ... And you were over 16 years old, Would you be blaring MRA bulls*** on Twitter right now?" (via Harpers Bazaar). Garossino's tweet pointed a harsh finger at Musk and alluded to the notion that he should be more involved in both his girlfriend and child's life.

To make matters more complicated, on July 24, 2020, Musk ruffled feathers again on Twitter after he tweeted, "Pronouns suck." Per CNBC, the post seemed to reference the growing discussion on the importance of pronoun use for LGBTQ+ people and beyond. At the time, Grimes tried to play damage control. On Twitter (via Business Insider), the singer responded, "I love you, but please turn off ur phone or give me a call. I cannot support hate. Please stop this. I know this isn't your heart."

After several of Elon Musk's Twitter scandals, he remained outspoken about his love for Grimes. In July 2020, around the time Musk tweeted about pronouns, the couple was interviewed by The New York Times. Despite their rocky social media relationship, Musk spoke highly of his girlfriend, telling the publication, "Yeah, she's pretty special, that's for sure ... She's one of the most unusual people I've ever met."

In a different fashion, however, Musk also essentially admitted that Grimes was more involved with their child than he was, saying, "Babies are just eating and pooping machines ... Right now, there's not much I can do. Grimes has a much bigger role than me right now. When the kid gets older, there will be more of a role for me."

Fast forward a year, and the couple appeared on "Saturday Night Live" together. Musk hosted the May 2021 episode and took on different character roles, including Nintendo villain Wario in a mock trial sketch, featuring Grimes as a Luigi-lovin' Princess Peach. The couple embodied their characters in their own unique way, and Grimes seemed proud of her partner on his hosting gig. On Instagram, she wrote, in part, "So grateful to the SNL team for being so kind and letting me sneak in as princess peach and so proud of my beautiful E (which I know will upset the grimes fans, so I apologize in advance) but he killed it."

Grimes and Elon Musk appeared to be on good terms following their appearance on "Saturday Night Live," but by September 2021, the two had broken up again. In a statement to Page Six, Musk said, "We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently, and are on great terms." In addition, the tech CEO noted that their respective careers got in the way of their relationship. He noted, "It's mostly that my work at SpaceX and Tesla requires me to be primarily in Texas or traveling overseas, and her work is primarily in LA."

Though the couple did formally break up, Grimes said in an Instagram post in October 2021 that she was still living with her ex-boyfriend, saying in part, "Full disclosure, I'm still living with e." Despite breaking up, both Grimes and Musk appeared to have ended their romance with civility and had seemingly maintained some semblance of a healthy relationship.

In a plot twist that no one saw coming, Grimes and Elon Musk not only rekindled their romance but also welcomed a second child in secret. The news was accidentally revealed during an interview Grimes did with Vanity Fair in March 2022 when journalist Devin Gordon heard a baby crying. Afterward, Grimes revealed that the couple did indeed have another child, a girl, via surrogacy in December 2021. 

The singer told the outlet that she and Musk wanted more children, but due to complications with her first child, X Æ A-Xii, the couple decided on surrogacy to expand their family. The baby's name, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, is just as unique as that of her older sibling, but Grimes calls her "Y" for short. After the Vanity Fair story was published, Grimes took to Twitter to clarify some things and briefly touch upon her second child, saying, "[I] didn't mean for them 2 find out about my daughter, so please respect her privacy as I'd love her to be able to live as private of a life as possible."

As for Grimes and Musk's romantic relationship, it's a bit complicated. The singer told Vanity Fair, "I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we're very fluid. We live in separate houses. We're best friends. We see each other all the time ... We just have our own thing going on, and I don't expect other people to understand it."

Just when you thought you had a grip on Grimes and Elon Musk's relationship, another twist gets thrown in and skews everything. Along with referring to Musk as her boyfriend in the March 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, the singer also said that their relationship was "the best it's ever been" and that they even wanted to have more children. Just as quickly as the story was published, the couple was once again broken up.

Addressing the article on Twitter, the musician confirmed that she and Musk were no longer together, tweeting, in part, "Me and E have broken up *again* since the writing of this article haha, but he's my best friend and the love of my life." Meanwhile, Page Six reported that Grimes had moved on already and was now dating Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning, while Musk was rumored to be dating Australian actor Natasha Bassett per Hollywood Life.

Unlike his ex, the Tesla founder had not made an official statement about his relationship ending. However, just three days before the Vanity Fair story was published, he posted a cryptic and potentially romantic statement on Twitter. It read, "You are my favorite hello, and my hardest goodbye." Was he talking about Grimes? Potentially. It's always unknown how long their breakup will last or where their relationship stands. But judging by how often the two reconcile, there is always a possibility they will get back together.