NEW DELHI: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently shared that his partner, Shivon Zilis, is half-Indian. Speaking on Zerodha founder Nikhil Kamath’s podcast “WTF is?” Musk disclosed, “I’m not sure if you know this, but my partner Shivon is half Indian,” and also revealed that one of their sons has the middle name Sekhar, in honor of Nobel laureate and Indian-American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.Discussing Zilis’s ancestry, Musk shared that she grew up in Canada and was given up for adoption as a baby. Musk explained, “She grew up in Canada. She was given up for adoption when she was a baby. I think her father was like an exchange student at the university or something like that. I’m not sure the exact details, but you know it was kind of thing where I don’t know, she was given up for adoption. But she grew up in Canada., Zilis’s background highlights a blend of Indian and Canadian heritage, and she graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Philosophy.Shivon Zilis has played an important role in Musk’s ventures, joining Neuralink in 2017, where she currently serves as the Director of Operations and Special Projects.She and Musk have four children together: twins Strider and Azure, daughter Arcadia, and son Seldon Lycurgus. One of their sons bears the middle name “Sekhar,” honoring the legacy of Chandrasekhar.Appearing on the podcast, Musk also remarked that “America has been an immense beneficiary of talent from India, but that seems to be changing now.” His remarks come at a moment when the American dream is fading for thousands of Indians amid tougher US visa curbs and increasing policy uncertainty.
