Vivian Jenna Wilson (born April 15, 2004) is an American

social media personality A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

and

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

. A member of the

Musk family The Musk family is a prominent family with roots in South Africa, Canada, England, and the United States, whose most famous member is billionaire Elon Musk. It also includes his parents Maye Musk, a model and author, and Errol Musk, a mine-ow ...

, she is the eldest daughter of businessman

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

and his first wife,

Justine Wilson Jennifer Justine Musk ( Wilson; born September 2, 1972) is a Canadian author. She is the first ex-wife of businessman Elon Musk. Early life and education Jennifer "Justine" Wilson was born on September 2, 1972, in Peterborough, Ontario, to paren ...

. Wilson

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

as a

transgender woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

in 2020, and was featured in ''

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American progressive online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to '' Vogue'', targeted at teenage girls and young women. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and ...

'' in 2025.

Early life and gender identity

Wilson was born on April 15, 2004, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, to South African–born businessman

and his first wife, Canadian author Justine Musk (). She was conceived through ''in vitro'' fertilization (IVF); her father reportedly used sex-selective IVF to ensure she would be a boy. Wilson stated that her father was often absent, "cold", "quick to anger", "uncaring", and "narcissistic." Additionally, he often harassed her for displaying "

femininity Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...

and

queerness ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non-cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to r ...

". Musk, separately, shared anecdotes of her as a child, stating that Wilson was "born

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

and slightly

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

" and used to "pick out clothes for me to wear like a jacket and tell me it was 'fabulous! Wilson rejects her father's anecdotes, describing them as an attempt to characterize her as a camp gay man. Wilson's parents divorced in 2008, and agreed to share custody of her and her other siblings. She attended the Crossroads School in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

Coming out

Wilson came out as transgender via a publicly posted

Instagram story Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters, be organized by hashtags, and be associated with a location via ...

in 2020. In an interview with ''

'' 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 therapy Hormone therapy or hormonal therapy is the use of hormones in medical treatment. Treatment with hormone antagonists may also be referred to as hormonal therapy or antihormone therapy. The most general classes of hormone therapy are hormonal therap ...

. Wilson began her treatment for

gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender i ...

in 2020, which she states her father did not initially support. However, she was already distancing herself from him at this time. In June 2022, at the age of 18, a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

judge approved her request to change her

legal name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of registration of the birth and which then ...

(taking her mother's

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries and cultures that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" ...

) and gender on her

birth certificate A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the Childbirth, birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation ...

after she applied in the

Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of Los Angeles County is the California Superior Courts of California, Superior Court located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The Sup ...

. In the petition for the changes, Wilson stated she no longer wished to be related to Musk "in any way, shape, or form".

Public image

In 2025, Wilson was featured on the cover of ''Teen Vogue''.'' 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". Wilson has spoken at length about her political views, describing herself as a

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

while rejecting characterization as a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

. She has expressed support for

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform Work (hu ...

, free healthcare, reducing

wealth inequality The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society. It shows one aspect of economic inequality or economic heterogeneity. The distribution of wealth differs from the income distribution in that ...

, and food, water, and shelter as

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

. When asked if her upbringing influenced her politics, she said "Seeing that kind of wealth wealthfirsthand, while living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and seeing the uge homelessness problem, the

wealth gap The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society. It shows one aspect of economic inequality or heterogeneity in economics, economic heterogeneity. The distribution of wealth differs from the i ...

... You start to wonder, how is this fair?" Wilson has been vocally critical of Musk's actions and supportive of

transgender rights The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transg ...

. Following the result of the

2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...

, Wilson voiced her intention to emigrate from the United States in the future. After Musk's controversial gesture at Donald Trump's inauguration that has been described as a

Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

, she proclaimed "let's call a spade a fucking spade".

Personal life

Wilson studied in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan, before returning to Los Angeles for modeling in May 2025. 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 Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

streaming. She and her mother are on good terms. Wilson has four full siblings: a twin brother, Griffin, and three younger brothers who are triplets, named Kai, Saxon, and Damian.

Criticism of Walter Isaacson's Musk biography

Wilson has criticized the biography ''

'' by

Walter Isaacson Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American journalist who has written biographies of Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Jennifer Doudna and Elon Musk. As of 2024, Isaacson is a profes ...

as inaccurate and unfair to her. Her portrayal has been described as that of "an angry, rebellious child, blinded by radical

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism ...

ideology and hurting her father with her rash decisions". 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 Kimbal James Musk (born 20 September 1972) is a businessman and restaurateur. He co-owns The Kitchen Restaurant Group, with restaurants in Colorado, Chicago, and Austin. He is the co-founder and chairman of Big Green, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit tha ...

, but never contacted Wilson before printing the claims. Isaacson claims to have reached out to her through family members. Disputing this particular claim, Wilson described the book as "genuinely

defamatory Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

", 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. Wilson alleged that " saacsonhad 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".

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. In October 2022, Musk blamed his estranged relationship with Wilson on "

neo-Marxist Neo-Marxism is a collection of Marxist schools of thought originating from 20th-century approaches to amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory, typically by incorporating elements from other intellectual traditions such as critical theory, ps ...

" influences due to the unspecified "elite university" she attended. In a July 2024 interview conducted by

Jordan Peterson Jordan Bernt Peterson (born 12 June 1962) is a Canadian psychologist, author, and media commentator. He received widespread attention in the late 2010s for his views on cultural and political issues. Often described as Conservatism, conservativ ...

, 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. Musk has said that Wilson's gender transition is primarily what sparked his drive to "destroy the woke mind virus".

's biography of Musk argued that some of his far-right views were "partially triggered" by Wilson's gender transition. Wilson disputes this account and has described it as "a convenient narrative."

Grimes Claire Elise Boucher (; born March 17, 1988), known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her lyrics often touch on science fiction and feminist themes. The visuals in her videos are elabora ...

, Musk's former partner, has defended Wilson and supported her transition. She stated that she is proud of Wilson for speaking out.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Vivian Living people 2004 births 21st-century American LGBTQ people American people of Canadian descent American people of South African descent American transgender women American expatriates in Japan American TikTokers American twins LGBTQ TikTokers Mass media people from Los Angeles Musk family Crossroads School alumni People conceived by in vitro fertilization