Google Co-Founder Quietly Divorced Wife In May Over Her Alleged Affair With Elon Musk: Report

Google's co-founder Sergey Brin has quietly finalized his divorce from Nicole Shanahan, a lawyer and entrepreneur, after allegations that she had an affair with billionaire Elon Musk, Page Six reported. As per court documents, the couple's divorce was confirmed on May 26. They will now split legal and physical custody of their 4-year-old daughter. 

Though Ms Shanahan did not contest the divorce, she asked the court to award her spousal support, the court papers said. They settled other issues including lawyer fees and division of assets in confidential arbitration.

Notably, the two first started dating in 2015, the same year Mr Brin finalised his divorce from his first wife, Anne Wojcicki, and eventually got married to Nicole Shanahan in 2018, as reported by Business Insider. 

However, they split in 2021 and started living separately, after which Mr. Brin filed for divorce in 2022, citing ''irreconcilable difference''. As per the New York Post, he filed for divorce about a month after his wife allegedly had a brief affair with Elon Musk, with whom he had been friends for years. However, both Mr Musk and Ms Shanahan denied their alleged affair.

''Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night. I've only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic, '' he wrote on X, on July 25, 2022, in response to a Wall Street Journal article titled ''Elon Musk's Friendship With Sergey Brin Ruptured by Alleged Affair''.

This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!

I've only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2022

Meanwhile, Ms Shanahan called the scandal ''utterly debilitating''. She insisted that she was never even more than friends with Mr Musk. 

''Did Elon and I have sex, like it was a moment of passion, and then it was over? No. Did we have a romantic relationship? No. We didn't have an affair,'' she claimed in July. However, the Wall Street Journal said that they are ''confident in our sourcing, and we stand by our reporting.''

The 50-year-old Google co-founder is the ninth richest person in the world with a net worth of  $118 billion, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Ms Shanahan, 34, is a California-based attorney and the founder and president of Bia-Echo Foundation, as per her Linkedin profile.