Vivian Jenna Wilson, the transgender daughter of Elon Musk, mentioned Thursday in her first public interview that he was an absent father who was merciless to her as a baby for being queer and female.
Wilson, 20, in an unique interview with NBC Information, responded to feedback that Musk made Monday about her and her transgender identification. On social media and in an interview posted on-line, Musk mentioned she was “not a woman” and was figuratively “useless,” and he alleged that he had been “tricked” into authorizing trans-related medical remedy for Wilson when she was 16.
Wilson mentioned that Musk had not been tricked and that, after initially hesitating, he knew what he was doing when he agreed to her remedy, which required consent from her dad and mom.
Musk’s latest statements crossed a line, she mentioned.
“I believe he was underneath the belief that I wasn’t going to say something and I’d simply let this go, unchallenged,” Wilson mentioned in a cellphone interview. “Which I am not going to do as a result of if you are going to lie about me, like, blatantly to an viewers of thousands and thousands, I am not simply gonna let that slide.”
Wilson mentioned that, for so long as she might keep in mind, Musk has not been a supportive father. She mentioned he was not often current in her life, leaving Wilson and her siblings to be cared for by their mom or by nannies despite the fact that Musk had joint custody, and she or he mentioned Musk berated her when he was current.
“He was chilly,” she mentioned. “He is very fast to anger. He’s uncaring and narcissistic.”
Wilson mentioned that, when she was a baby, Musk would harass her for exhibiting female traits and would stress her to seem extra masculine, together with by pushing her to deepen her voice as early as elementary college.
“I used to be in fourth grade. We went on this street journey that I did not know was truly simply an commercial for one of many vehicles — I do not keep in mind which one — and he was continually yelling at me viciously as a result of my voice was too excessive,” she mentioned. “It was merciless.”
Musk didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Wilson and her twin brother have been born to Musk’s first spouse, writer Justine Musk. The couple divorced in 2008, and Wilson mentioned her dad and mom shared custody between their properties within the Los Angeles space.
Musk, 53, is among the many wealthiest individuals on the planet by way of his stakes in Tesla, the place he is CEO, and in SpaceX, which he based. He is additionally turn into a big political determine, having endorsed former President Donald Trump this month for one more time period within the White Home. Musk has 12 kids, together with Wilson.
Now a university scholar finding out languages, Wilson has by no means granted an interview earlier than and has largely stayed out of public view. She did, nonetheless, entice consideration in 2022 when she sought court docket approval in California to vary her title and, within the course of, denounced her father.
“I now not stay with or want to be associated to my organic father in any approach, form or kind,” she mentioned within the court docket submitting.
She instructed NBC Information that on the time, she was stunned by the media consideration to the court docket submitting, which she submitted when she was 18. She mentioned within the interview that she stands by what she wrote, although she mentioned she may need tried to be extra eloquent if she had identified the protection it might obtain.
Wilson mentioned that she hadn’t spoken to Musk in about 4 years, and that she refused to be outlined by him.
“I want to emphasize one factor: I’m an grownup. I’m 20 years outdated. I’m not a baby,” she mentioned. “My life ought to be outlined by my very own selections.”
Musk threw a highlight on Wilson on Monday by talking about their relationship in a video interview with psychologist and conservative commentator Jordan Peterson streamed stay on X, saying that he didn’t help Wilson’s gender identification.
“I misplaced my son, primarily,” Musk mentioned. He used Wilson’s start title, also referred to as a deadname for transgender individuals, and mentioned that she was “useless, killed by the woke thoughts virus.”
And in a submit on X Monday, Musk mentioned that Wilson was “born homosexual and barely autistic” and that, at age 4, she match sure homosexual stereotypes comparable to loving musicals and utilizing the exclamation “fabulous!” to explain sure clothes. Wilson instructed NBC Information that these anecdotes will not be true, although she mentioned she did act stereotypically female in different methods as a baby.
Wilson additionally addressed Musk’s latest feedback in a sequence of posts Thursday on the social media app Threads.
“He would not know what I used to be like as a baby as a result of he fairly merely wasn’t there,” she wrote. “And within the little time that he was I used to be relentlessly harassed for my femininity and queerness.”
“I have been diminished to a contented little stereotype,” she continued. “I believe that claims alot about how he views queer individuals and kids normally.”
Lately, Musk has taken a hard-right flip into conservative politics and has been waging a marketing campaign towards transgender individuals and insurance policies designed to help them. This month, he mentioned he was pulling his companies out of California to protest a brand new state legislation that bars faculties from requiring that trans children be outed to their dad and mom.
On the social media app X, Musk has for years criticized transgender rights, together with medical remedies for trans-identifying minors, and the use of pronouns if totally different from what could be used at start. He has promoted anti-trans content material and referred to as for arresting individuals who present trans care to minors.
After Musk purchased X, then referred to as Twitter, in 2022, he rolled again the app’s protections for trans individuals together with a ban on utilizing deadnames.
Musk instructed Peterson that Wilson’s gender transition has been the motivation for his push into conservative politics.
“I vowed to destroy the woke thoughts virus after that, and we’re making some progress,” he mentioned.
Wilson was additionally talked about in a biography of Musk by writer Walter Isaacson — a e book that she instructed NBC Information was inaccurate and unfair to her. The e book refers to her politics as “radical Marxism,” quoting Musk’s sister-in-law Christiana Musk, however Wilson mentioned she’s not a Marxist, although she mentioned she does oppose wealth inequality. The e book additionally calls her by her center title, Jenna.
Wilson mentioned that Isaacson by no means reached out to her straight forward of publication. In a cellphone interview Thursday, Isaacson mentioned that he had reached out to Wilson by way of members of the family.
Christiana Musk didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Thursday.
Wilson instructed NBC Information that for years she had thought-about talking out about Musk’s habits as a dad or mum and as an individual, however that she might now not stay silent after his feedback Monday.
She mentioned she had by no means acquired a proof for why her father spent so little time together with her and her siblings — habits by him that she now views as unusual.
“He was there, I need to say, possibly 10% of the time. That is beneficiant,” she mentioned. “He had half custody, and he totally was not there.”
“It was only a reality of life on the time, so I do not suppose I noticed simply how irregular of an expertise it was,” she added.
Wilson mentioned she got here out twice in life: as soon as as homosexual in eighth grade, and a second time as transgender when she was 16. She mentioned she would not recall Musk’s response the primary time, and she or he wasn’t current when Musk heard from others that she was transgender as a result of by then the pandemic had began and she or he was residing full-time together with her mom.
“She’s very supportive. I like her loads,” Wilson mentioned of her mother.
The pandemic was an opportunity to flee Musk’s cruelty, she mentioned.
“When Covid hit, I used to be like, ‘I am not going over there,'” she mentioned. “It was principally very fortunate timing.”
Musk instructed Peterson within the interview that he had been “tricked” into signing paperwork authorizing transgender-related medical remedy for Wilson — an allegation that Wilson mentioned is not true.
“I used to be primarily tricked into signing paperwork for one among my older boys,” Musk mentioned, utilizing her start title.
“This was earlier than I had actually any understanding of what was occurring, and we had Covid occurring,” he mentioned, including that he was instructed that she may commit suicide.
Wilson mentioned that, in 2020, when she was nonetheless a minor at 16, she wished to begin remedy for extreme gender dysphoria however wanted the consent of each dad and mom underneath California legislation. She mentioned her mom was supportive, however that Musk was initially not. She mentioned she texted him about it for some time.
“I used to be attempting to do that for months, however he mentioned I needed to go meet with him in particular person,” she mentioned. “At that time, it was very clear that we each had a really distinct disdain for one another.”
When she ultimately went and gave him the medical varieties, she mentioned, he learn them at the least twice, as soon as together with her after which once more on his personal, earlier than signing them.
“He was not by any means tricked. He knew the total unwanted effects,” she mentioned.
She mentioned she took puberty blockers earlier than switching to hormone-replacement remedy — remedies that she mentioned have been life-saving for her and different transgender individuals.
“They save lives. Let’s not get that twisted,” she mentioned. “They positively allowed me to thrive.”
She mentioned she believed that the necessities to acquire such remedies stay onerous, with youngsters pressured to say they’re at excessive danger of self-harm earlier than they’re going to be authorised. She mentioned she felt judged by Musk and Peterson, within the Monday interview, for not being at a excessive sufficient danger of their eyes.
“I’ve been principally put into some extent the place, to a gaggle of individuals, I’ve to principally show whether or not or not I used to be suicidal or to not warrant medically transitioning,” she mentioned. “It is completely thoughts boggling.”
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this story
