Elon Musk’s transgender daughter, Vivian Wilson, speaks in first interview

Vivian Jenna Wilson, the transgender daughter of Elon Musk, stated Thursday in her first interview that he was an absent father who was merciless to her as a toddler for being queer and female.

Wilson, 20, in an unique interview with NBC Information, responded to feedback Musk made Monday about her and her transgender id. On social media and in an interview posted on-line, Musk stated she was “not a woman” and was figuratively “useless,” and he alleged that he had been “tricked” into authorizing trans-related medical therapy for her when she was 16. 

Wilson stated that Musk hadn’t been tricked and that, after initially having hesitated, he knew what he was doing when he agreed to her therapy, which required consent from her dad and mom.

Musk’s latest statements crossed a line, she stated. 

“I believe he was beneath the belief that I wasn’t going to say something and I’d simply let this go unchallenged,” Wilson stated in a cellphone interview. “Which I’m not going to do, as a result of in the event you’re going to lie about me, like, blatantly to an viewers of hundreds of thousands, I’m not simply gonna let that slide.” 

Wilson stated that, for so long as she might keep in mind, Musk hasn’t been a supportive father. She stated he was hardly ever current in her life, leaving her and her siblings to be cared for by their mom or by nannies despite the fact that Musk had joint custody, and he or she stated Musk berated her when he was current. 

“He was chilly,” she stated. “He’s very fast to anger. He’s uncaring and narcissistic.” 

Wilson stated that, when she was a toddler, Musk would harass her for exhibiting female traits and stress her to look 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 highway journey that I didn’t know was truly simply an commercial for one of many vehicles — I don’t keep in mind which one — and he was continuously yelling at me viciously as a result of my voice was too excessive,” she stated. “It was merciless.” 

Musk didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Wilson and her twin brother had been born to Musk’s first spouse, writer Justine Musk. The couple divorced in 2008, and Wilson stated her dad and mom shared custody between their properties within the Los Angeles space. 

Musk, 53, is among the many wealthiest folks on the earth by his stakes in Tesla, the place he’s CEO, and in SpaceX, which he based. He has additionally develop 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 youngsters, together with Wilson. 

Now a university pupil learning 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 alter her identify and, within the course of, denounced her father. 

“I now not dwell with or want to be associated to my organic father in any method, form or type,” she stated within the court docket submitting. 

She informed NBC Information that on the time, she was shocked by the media consideration to the court docket submitting, which she submitted when she was 18. She stated within the interview that she stands by what she wrote, although she stated she might need tried to be extra eloquent had she identified the protection it might get. 

Wilson stated 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 toddler,” she stated. “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 dwell on X, saying he didn’t assist Wilson’s gender id. 

“I misplaced my son, primarily,” Musk stated. He used Wilson’s beginning identify, also called a deadname for transgender folks, and stated she was “useless, killed by the woke thoughts virus.” 

And in a submit on X, Musk stated Monday 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 informed NBC Information that the anecdotes aren’t true, although she stated she did act stereotypically female in different methods as a toddler. 

Wilson additionally addressed Musk’s latest feedback in a collection of posts Thursday on the social media app Threads. 

“He doesn’t know what I used to be like as a toddler 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’ve been diminished to a cheerful little stereotype,” she continued. “I believe that claims alot about how he views queer folks and youngsters normally.” 

In recent times, Musk has taken a hard-right flip into conservative politics and has been waging a marketing campaign in opposition to transgender folks and insurance policies designed to assist them. This month, he stated he was pulling his companies out of California to protest a brand new state regulation that bars colleges from requiring that trans children be outed to their dad and mom.

On X, Musk has for years criticized transgender rights, together with medical remedies for trans-identifying minors, and the use of pronouns if they’re totally different from what could be used at beginning. He has promoted anti-trans content material and known as for arresting people who present trans care to minors. 

After Musk purchased X, then generally known as Twitter, in 2022, he rolled again the app’s protections for trans folks, together with a ban on utilizing deadnames. 

Musk informed 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 stated. 

Wilson was additionally talked about in a biography of Musk by writer Walter Isaacson — a ebook that she informed NBC Information was inaccurate and unfair to her. The ebook refers to her politics as “radical Marxism,” quoting Musk’s sister-in-law Christiana Musk, however Wilson stated she’s not a Marxist, although she stated she does oppose wealth inequality. The ebook additionally calls her by her center identify, Jenna. 

Wilson stated Isaacson by no means reached out to her straight forward of publication. In a cellphone interview Thursday, Isaacson stated he had reached out to Wilson by members of the family. 

Christiana Musk didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Thursday.

Wilson informed NBC Information that for years she had thought of talking out about Musk’s conduct as a guardian and as an individual however that she might now not stay silent after his feedback Monday. 

She stated she had by no means obtained a proof for why her father spent so little time along with her and her siblings — conduct that she now views as unusual. 

“He was there, I wish to say, perhaps 10% of the time. That’s beneficiant,” she stated. “He had half custody, and he absolutely was not there.” 

“It was only a reality of life on the time, so I don’t assume I spotted simply how irregular of an expertise it was,” she added.

Wilson stated 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 stated that she doesn’t recall Musk’s response the primary time and that she wasn’t current when Musk heard from others that she was transgender, as a result of by then the pandemic had began and he or she was residing full-time along with her mom. 

“She’s very supportive. I really like her so much,” Wilson stated of her mother.

The pandemic was an opportunity to flee Musk’s cruelty, she stated. 

“When Covid hit, I used to be like, ‘I’m not going over there,’” she stated. “It was mainly very fortunate timing.” 

Musk informed Peterson within the interview that he had been “tricked” into signing paperwork authorizing transgender-related medical therapy for Wilson — an allegation Wilson stated isn’t true. 

“I used to be primarily tricked into signing paperwork for one in every of my older boys,” Musk stated, utilizing her beginning identify.

“This was earlier than I had actually any understanding of what was happening, and we had Covid happening,” he stated, including that he was informed she may commit suicide.

Wilson stated that, in 2020, when she was nonetheless a minor at 16, she needed to start out therapy for extreme gender dysphoria however wanted the consent of each dad and mom beneath California regulation. She stated that her mom was supportive however that Musk initially wasn’t. She stated she texted him about it for some time. 

“I used to be attempting to do that for months, however he stated I needed to go meet with him in particular person,” she stated. “At that time, it was very clear that we each had a really distinct disdain for one another.” 

When she finally went and gave him the medical varieties, she stated, he learn them a minimum of twice, as soon as along with her after which once more on his personal, earlier than he signed them. 

“He was not by any means tricked. He knew the complete unwanted side effects,” she stated. 

She stated she took puberty blockers earlier than she switched to hormone-replacement remedy — remedies that she stated had been lifesaving for her and different transgender folks. 

“They save lives. Let’s not get that twisted,” she stated. “They undoubtedly allowed me to thrive.” 

She stated she believed the necessities to acquire such remedies stay onerous, with youngsters pressured to say they’re at excessive danger of self-harm earlier than they’ll be accepted. She stated 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 mainly put into a degree the place, to a bunch of individuals, I’ve to mainly show whether or not or not I used to be suicidal or to not warrant medically transitioning,” she stated. “It’s completely mind-boggling.”