A detailed biography of Tesla chief Elon Musk released Tuesday, contains some fascinating behind the scenes of a man formed by childhood trauma, an innovator and somewhat mercurial figure, as he runs 6 of the world's most important companies including SpaceX, X, Neuralink, Boring, and xAI. Elon Musk is filled with drama, intrigue and old family conflicts surrounding the richest man in the world, as captured by his acquaintance and acclaimed biographer Walter Isaacson.
In one of the book’s biggest revelations, Isaacson recounts an incident related to Musk's satellite internet service Starlink, which has been Ukraine's communication backbone in their war with Russia.
Isaacson writes that Musk instructed his engineers to “turn off” Starlink satellite internet coverage to prevent Ukraine from launching a surprise sea drone attack on the Russian naval fleet in Sevastopol.
According to Isaacson, after speaking to the Russian ambassador to the United States -- who reportedly told him an attack on Crimea would trigger a nuclear response -- Musk ordered his engineers to turn off Starlink coverage “within 100 kilometers of the Crimean coast.” This caused the drones to lose connectivity and wash “ashore harmlessly.”
Ukrainian officials frantically called and asked Musk to turn on the internet service, telling him that the “drone subs were crucial to their fight for freedom.” But the SpaceX chief argued that Ukraine was “going too far and inviting strategic defeat” and that he did not want his satellites used for offensive purposes. When the country's vice prime minister told him in a text that Starlink service was “a matter of life and death,” he encouraged him to “seek peace[with Russia] while you have the upper hand.”
The biographer and Musk himself have since clarified the the story in posts on X. Contrary to Isaacson's account of the incident, the SpaceX chief didn’t shut down coverage but denied a request to extend the network’s range which the company already restricts in Russia-occupied Crimea.
"To clarify on the Starlink issue: the Ukrainians THOUGHT coverage was enabled all the way to Crimea, but it was not," Isaacson wrote on X. "They asked Musk to enable it for their drone sub attack on the Russian fleet. Musk did not enable it, because he thought, probably correctly, that would cause a major war."
“There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol,” Musk on his part said on X. “The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”
Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev last Thursday, praised Musk’s decision. “If what Isaacson has written in his book is true, then it looks like Musk is the last adequate mind in North America,” he wrote on X. “Or, at the very least, in gender-neutral America, he is the one with the balls.”
Isaacson in the book, also talked to some of Musk's former and current employees and executives, close friends, ex-wives and family members including father, Errol.
Musk has 10 children with three women, one of whom -- Shivon Zilis, who bore his twins in 2021 -- is an executive at Neuralink. (Another child, Musk’s first, born in 2002, died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome when he was 10 weeks old.)
“He really wants smart people to have kids,” Zilis said of Musk, who offered to be her sperm donor so that, Isaacson adds, “the kids would be genetically his.” At the time, Grimes and Musk were expecting their second child, a girl. He apparently didn’t tell Grimes that he had just had twins with Zilis. However, both women appear to have settled any hard feelings between them.
"Hey, I wud prefer to not breathe any more life into this current press cycle but I want to de-escalate the narrative atm," Grimes clarified on X. "I spoke with Shivon at length finally, which was long overdue. This wasn't her fault, plz don't be angry at her! We respect each other a lot and we're excited to become friends and have the kids grow up together. I truly apologize for responding to Walter like that. As u can imagine, that was a very gut level reaction to a thing that has been very hard for me. Communication about the twins wasn't handled super well in the past, but I now totally understand what happened and totally forgive the situation. Women are so often pitted against each other. Speaking with Shivon, it's very evident she's an amazing human and we both just want what's best for our kids. I wish I could show u how cute little Techno is but my priority rn is keeping my babies out of the public eye, Plz respect that at this time"
Zilis responded in a reply to Grimes' post: "At the end of the day it all ended up for the best! Thank you for taking the time to really connect and understand each other. So glad we had such a wonderful talk, was insanely overdue. You’re a total badass and I respect you very much as well. I can’t wait for kiddo play date and congrats on baby Tau as well!"
WATCH Elon Musk's remarks at the All-in Summit regarding revelations in Walter Isaacson's biography