After being in a relationship for three years, musician Claire Elise Boucher, who goes by the stage name Grimes, and tech mogul Elon Musk have split up. The news comes directly from Musk, who revealed the information to celebrity news site Page Six.
“We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms,” Musk told Page Six.
Musk stated that the reason for the separation was mostly because his two companies, SpaceX and Tesla, require him to be away from home for large periods of time. Musk also told Page Six that Grimes is still currently living in their home in Los Angeles with their son.
Grimes and Musk first met after bonding over an artificial intelligence joke on Twitter in 2018. They began dating afterwards and made their first public appearance together at the Met Gala on May 7, 2018.
While the breakup may seem abrupt, there were many public controversies surrounding the relationship and even public arguments between Grimes and Musk. The biggest controversy arguably being the name they chose for their child.
The couple’s son, who was born on May 4, 2020, was infamously given the name X AE A-XII. Musk explained on the Joe Rogan podcast that Grimes had come up with most of the name, and that it is pronounced, “X Ash A-12.” The choice to name their son X AE A-XII drew a lot of national headlines and criticism towards Musk and Grimes. The name was so controversial that the state of California had to step in and tell the parents that any use of non-alphabetic symbols wasn’t permitted.
There was backlash from many Grimes fans when first hearing about her relationship with Musk. Grimes had developed a reputation of someone who had many anti-conservative views and her fans saw her relationship with the billionaire as a sign of her abandoning her ideologies. The fact that Grimes supported Musk donating thousands of dollars to the Republican Party was seen as an example of her hypocrisy.
There were also constant Twitter arguments between Grimes and Musk, with the two of them unfollowing and following each other many times during their three year relationship. Musk posted a handful of tweets that Grimes publicly denounced.
“Another government stimulus package is not in the best interest of the people in my opinion” and “Pronouns suck,” were two infamous tweets that Musk wrote on July 4, 2020. Grimes would go on to tweet that Musk should give her his phone and that she couldn’t support his hate.
One of the last notable public appearances for Grimes and Musk was when Musk hosted “Saturday Night Live” and Grimes acted in a skit. The two were last seen together during the 2021 Met Gala. Despite the breakup, the two are still on good terms and plan on parenting their 1-year-old son together.
