'Very isolating': Elon Musk's estranged trans daughter Vivian Wilson opens up about painful childhood with billionaire dad

Vivian Wilson, the estranged trans daughter of the world's richest man Elon Musk recently revealed how growing up with immense wealth and a billionaire dad truly was. Speaking to Cosmopolitan, the activist turned model described her childhood as a "very strange" experience and "very isolating." "The upper class have their own private schools, social circles, and whatever," she said.

As a child, Wilson who earlier went by Xavier Musk, attended Ad Astra, a secretive school on the SpaceX campus before transferring to Crossroads, a traditional school for LA's elite. “I have unlearned a huge amount, but even as a child, I was like, ‘This is a bit gauche,’” she said. “I remember being very young and seeing homelessness and feeling sick to my stomach," she added while sharing people would call her "dramatic" for her behaviour but she was right to be concerned.





She criticised the close-knit upper-class circles and pointed out that extreme wealth fosters a "level of detachment from reality itself" where one thinks they deserve the riches while "people are sleeping on the streets." Wilson said she had seen firsthand how the pursuit of power corrupts people and turns them into someone different, calling it a "never-ending cycle of greed and gluttony" and citing it as one of her biggest fears.

When asked if it's difficult to be consistently referred to as "Elon's kid," the 21-year-old social media personality said she can not do much about it and thus does not care for it. "It’s part of my story, but it’s not the future of my story,” she said.

However, an insider turned outsider, Wilson is ready to call out the elite. She recently posted on Threads, the rival platform of Musk-owned X, about the Epstein files and Musk wanting to visit the infamous island. She has offered to assist authorities however she can, despite safety concerns. “Bringing down the oligarchy would be tea, but I don’t know if that's feasible for a 21-year-old. I’m just living my life and speaking out on issues that are important to me,” she said.

Who is Vivian Wilson?

Vivian Jenna Wilson is the eldest daughter of Elon Musk and Canadian author Justine Wilson. She was born on April 15, 2004, with her twin brother Griffin. She lives in Los Angeles with three roommates, despite having access to her father's billions. This is because in 2022, Wilson, born as Xavier Musk, legally changed her name and cut ties with her father.

The same year she also changed her gender to trans and adopted her mother's maiden name. In December 2025, Musk took to X to claim that Wilson had a "tragic mental illness" caused by "evil woke mind virus" pushed on vulnerable children and hoped "he recovers."

According to her, Musk had been largely absent from her life even before their estrangement. In a 2024 NBC interview, she said he had not been involved for months at the time she sought gender-affirming care. She claimed Musk cut her off financially and "in every other way" in 2020, the same year she came out.

However, she has a warm relationship with her mother. She shared that her mother pretended to be surprised when she came out as trans before saying, "Yeah, honey. Okay."

Wilson truly rose to the limelight with her 2025 Teen Vogue cover, before which she was studying languages at Japan's Komazawa University with the intention of becoming a teacher. Since then she has made her DRAG debut, modelled for TomboyX and walked the ramp for hig-end labels including Prabal Gurung, Gucci and more.