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Vivian Wilson
American influencer and model (born 2004) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Vivian Jenna Wilson (born April 15, 2004[1]) is an American social media personality and model.[2] A member of the Musk family, she is the eldest daughter of businessman Elon Musk and his first wife, Justine Wilson. Wilson came out as a transgender woman in 2020, and was featured in Teen Vogue in 2025.
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Early life and gender identity
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Vivian Jenna Wilson[3] was born on April 15, 2004, in Los Angeles, California,[1] to South African–born businessman Elon Musk and his first wife, Canadian author Justine Musk (née Wilson).[4] She was conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF); her father reportedly used sex-selective IVF to ensure she would be a boy.[5] Wilson stated that her father was often absent, "cold", "quick to anger", "uncaring", and "narcissistic." Additionally, he often harassed her for displaying "femininity and queerness".[6][7] Musk, separately, shared anecdotes of her as a child, stating that Wilson was "born gay and slightly autistic" and used to "pick out clothes for me to wear like a jacket and tell me it was 'fabulous!'"[8] Wilson rejects her father's anecdotes, describing them as an attempt to characterize her as a camp gay man.[8][9] Wilson's parents divorced in 2008, and agreed to share custody of her and her other siblings.[10] She attended the Crossroads School in Santa Monica.[11][12]
Coming out
Wilson came out as transgender via a publicly posted Instagram story in 2020. In an interview with Teen Vogue in 2025, she expressed regret for not telling her mother first. Reportedly, her mother was very supportive of her transition and was not surprised when Wilson came out. Her father was not as supportive, and according to Wilson, she had not spoken to him in months, but required his permission for her to begin testosterone blockers and hormone replacement therapy.[13] Wilson began her treatment for gender dysphoria in 2020, which she states her father did not initially support.[3] However, she was already distancing herself from him at this time.[13]
In June 2022, at the age of 18, a California judge approved her request to change her legal name (taking her mother's maiden name[14]) and gender on her birth certificate[14][3] after she applied in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.[15] In her petition, Wilson stated that she no longer wished to be related to Musk "in any way, shape, or form".[15][16]
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Public image
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In 2025, Wilson was featured on the cover of Teen Vogue.[13][18] Teen Vogue described Wilson as "extremely online", and "really good at it": she is outspoken about transgender issues, which she has noted she feels "obligated to talk about", and has described the state of American politics in 2025 as "terrifying".[13] Wilson has spoken at length about her political views, describing herself as a leftist while rejecting characterization as a Marxist. She has expressed support for universal basic income, free healthcare, reducing wealth inequality, and food, water, and shelter as human rights.[13][3] When asked if her upbringing influenced her politics, she said "Seeing that kind of wealth – extravagant wealth – firsthand, while living in Los Angeles and seeing the [huge] homelessness problem, the wealth gap ... You start to wonder, how is this fair?"[13]
Wilson has been vocally critical of Musk's actions and supportive of transgender rights.[19][20] Following the result of the 2024 United States presidential election, Wilson voiced her intention to emigrate from the United States in the future.[21] After Musk's controversial gesture at Donald Trump's inauguration that has been described as a Nazi salute, she proclaimed "let's call a spade a fucking spade".[22][23][24]
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Personal life
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Wilson studied in Tokyo, Japan, before returning to Los Angeles for modeling in May 2025.[25] Prior to achieving prominence, Wilson had hoped to work as a translator, and had been studying French, Spanish, and Japanese to that end. Since then she has considered other possibilities, including Twitch streaming.[13][26] She and her mother are on good terms.[13] Wilson has four full siblings: a twin brother, Griffin, and three younger brothers who are triplets, named Kai, Saxon, and Damian.[27]
Criticism of Walter Isaacson's Musk biography
Wilson has criticized the biography Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson as inaccurate and unfair to her. Her portrayal has been described as that of "an angry, rebellious child, blinded by radical anti-capitalist ideology and hurting her father with her rash decisions".[13] The book also notably referred to her as "Jenna". Isaacson sourced his claims to Christiana Musk, the wife of Elon Musk's brother Kimbal Musk, but never contacted Wilson before printing the claims. Isaacson claims to have reached out to her through family members.[3] Disputing this particular claim, Wilson described the book as "genuinely defamatory", saying that it deliberately avoided including any testimony by her to frame her existence as "a villain-origin backstory" for her father's rightward political shift.[28][29] Wilson alleged that "[Isaacson] had an agenda when writing his book, which was to make Elon look good, or look more complex than he is. In order to do that, he needed to villainize the trans teenager and make it seem like there were two reasonable sides to the story".[13]
Relationship with father
Wilson has described her father as "a pathetic man-child", and has been financially independent from him since she first came out as transgender in 2020.[30][31]
In October 2022, Musk blamed his estranged relationship with Wilson on "neo-Marxist" influences due to the unspecified "elite university" she attended.[32] In a July 2024 interview conducted by Jordan Peterson, Musk spoke negatively of Wilson's transition and deadnamed her. He said he was "tricked" into granting her request for gender-affirming treatment, as California law required his permission since Wilson was under 18 at the time. Musk ultimately described her as having been "killed by the woke mind virus" in conjunction with her transition.[3][6] Musk has said that Wilson's gender transition is primarily what sparked his drive to "destroy the woke mind virus".[33][34] Walter Isaacson's biography of Musk argued that his shift towards more right-wing politics was "partly triggered by [Wilson]'s transition, her embrace of radical socialist politics, and her decision to break off relations with him."[35][36][37] Wilson disputes this account and has described it as "a convenient narrative."[13]
Grimes, Musk's former partner, has defended Wilson and supported her transition. She stated that she is proud of Wilson for speaking out.[38][39]
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External links
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