Vivian Wilson, the estranged transgender daughter of Elon Musk, has spoken about living a hand-to-mouth life despite being the daughter of the world’s richest person. Wilson, who identifies as transgender, revealed in an interview that she lives in an apartment shared by three other roommates. The aspiring model said that it is cheaper to live in a shared space.
“People assume I have a lot of money. I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars at my disposal,” Wilson told The Cut in an interview published Tuesday.
“My mom is rich, right? But obviously the other one [Musk] … is unimaginable degrees of wealthy,” she said.
“I Don’t Have a Desire to Be Superrich,” Says Vivian Wilson
“I don’t have a desire to be superrich,” she explained. “I can afford food. I have friends, a shelter, and some expendable income, which is nice and much more fortunate than most people my age in Los Angeles.”
Vivian Wilson is the eldest of Musk’s 14 children. She severed ties with her father in 2022 after filing a petition to legally change her name and gender. Since then, she has been openly critical of the Tesla founder, at times calling him a “pathetic man-child” who failed to accept her identity.
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Elon Musk on Vivian Wilson
Musk has previously claimed Wilson was “killed by the woke mind virus” and alleged he was “tricked” into permitting her to transition at age 16.
During her interview, Wilson acknowledged the public fallout, admitting that the most stereotypical thing about her life was “Daddy issues.”
Wilson was brought up in a “lavish” environment, which she acknowledges. She attended high-end schools with other celebrity children, including Apple Martin, the daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin.
Who is Vivian Wilson?
Vivian Wilson is a twin child of Elon Musk born with her twin brother, Griffin. They were born on April 15, 2004, to Elon and Justine Musk.
Vivian has been influenced by the stark income gap of his wealthy father and the homeless people living in the city.
“You start to wonder, How is this fair?” she told Teen Vogue in March 2025. “You have to inevitably come to the conclusion it’s not. There is no world in which people should be owning multiple private planes, private islands, private whatever, while other people are sleeping on the street.”
Vivian Wilson Career
She also studied multiple languages – Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish – and later enrolled in universities in Canada and Japan before dropping out. She attributed her decision to leave academics to artificial intelligence, saying it ruined her “motivation.”
Wilson has recently entered the modeling world, signing with an agent and appearing on the cover of Teen Vogue. Still, she said she is uncomfortable with public attention.
“I fought so hard for so long to be viewed as a regular person. There was a moment literally right before I became famous where no one knew who I was. It was amazing. Everyone treated me as a regular person. I kind of miss that. But I also like being famous,” she said.
“I guess I’m kind of indifferent to it. But I like the fact that it makes me money.”
When Vivian Wilson Came Out as Transgender
Wilson revealed that she came out as transgender in 2020 through an Instagram Stories post. She admitted she regretted not telling her mother first, but said Justine Musk had been supportive and even inspired her chosen name.
“She is a published writer of supernatural romance fiction, which is where I get all my Vivian-isms, of being cringe and chronically online,” Wilson said. “When I came out to her … she pretended to be slightly surprised for 30 seconds and then was like, ‘Yeah, honey. Okay.’”
No Contact With Elon Musk Since 2020
Wilson confirmed that she has not spoken to her father since 2020 and has been financially independent ever since. She added that defending herself online – particularly after Musk’s comments in the Peterson interview and her portrayal in Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography – was a turning point.
“I had all this pent-up energy, I had wanted to speak out for so long after being [essentially] defamed in a book, after being doxxed,” Wilson said. “Everything that had gone on – especially in my childhood – when that finally happened, it was the most cathartic experience I have ever had. And then I was like, Okay, whatever.”
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
