Meet Talulah Riley, the British actress who married Elon Musk twice and 'took a career break' to care for his children with his first wife

Talulah Riley is a British actress who has starred in dozens of films and TV series — and was once twice-married to Elon Musk.

Riley was born in Hertford, England in 1985. Her mother was a businesswoman and her father was the head of the former UK National Crime Squad, according to a 2011 interview with the magazine This Is London.

Riley began acting in 2003 when she was just 18, starring in several episodes of the TV series "Poirot." In addition to her acting career, Riley pursued a natural sciences degree from Open University, per a 2013 interview with the UK freesheet Metro.

Some of her best-known film and TV shows include "Pride & Prejudice," "Inception," "Thor: The Dark World," and "Westworld."

Riley most notably portrayed Angela in the sci-fi series "Westworld" for two seasons. 

"One of the most interesting things about Angela, [was] that she was the only robot who knew she was a robot," Riley told Thrillist in a 2018 interview.

"One can imagine her being really angry about being [a sex slave]," she added.

The 36-year-old's most recent project is the miniseries "Pistol," about the '70s British punk band the Sex Pistols. She portrays the British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.

Riley has won several acting awards, including Best Actress for her leading role in "The Last Witness" (2018) at the New York City International Film Festival and Rome International Movie Awards. She was also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for her ensemble role in "Westworld."

Riley was married to Elon Musk twice — she first married the tech mogul in 2010, but the pair divorced two years later. The couple reconciled and wed again the following year only to get divorced again in 2016.

Riley and Musk first met in a bar in London in 2008, according to Cosmopolitan. The couple got married in Dornoch Cathedral in the UK two years after they met.

Riley was Musk's second wife — but in an undated article from Marie Claire, Musk's first wife, Justine Wilson, said she and Riley had no bad blood between them. 

"She is, by all accounts, a lovely, bright, and very young person, and better fitted to my ex-husband's lifestyle and personality than I ever was," Wilson wrote in the article.

Riley and Musk initially married in 2010 but divorced in 2012. They later rekindled their romance and remarried in 2013 before divorcing again in 2016.  

Riley told The Independent in a July interview she knew it was "strange" to marry and divorce Musk — twice. 

"I suppose the reason to get remarried was just because it felt silly to be together unmarried after having been married. You know, it's like a habit. We were saying, 'This is my husband.' 'This is my wife.' 'Oh, wait, no, we're not that anymore. We better be that again," Riley told the UK newspaper.

Riley added that she had a "very deep love and connection" with Musk and that he remained a "great friend" even after their divorce.

"He looks out for me. We are in a happy place now, where we're good to each other, which is really nice. I have the utmost love for him," she told The Independent. 

Riley took a break from her acting career to take care of Musk's five children with Wilson, according to The Independent.

Musk has a total of 10 living children, including five whom he fathered with Wilson: twins Griffin and Vivian, who were born in 2004, and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian, who were born in 2006.

Riley never had biological children of her own with Musk, but said in the interview with The Independent that she had to prioritize Musk's family over her career. Even so, "it wasn't really a traditional housewife role."

"I mean, there were the rockets and the cars, and there were things blowing up… there was a lot going on – a lot that was very stimulating," Riley told the publication. She added that she and Musk's children were "very involved" in Musk's projects, describing their relationship as a "family-wide effort."

 

Riley once lived with Musk and his children in his Bel Air mansion, but has since moved back to her hometown Hertfordshire, per The Independent.

While Musk is known for couch-surfing at his friends' houses, he once had an extensive real estate portfolio worth a combined $100 million. 

Riley used to live in one of Musk's six Bel-Air mansions, and said while Musk "was great," she wasn't "suited to the LA lifestyle," per The Independent.

"It wasn't like I was stuck in a mansion in Bel Air like a trophy wife, which would not have been fun. I did, of course, witness that for others. But luckily, that was not my fate," Riley told the publication.

She now resides in England, explaining to The Independent that she prefers "ringing bells and growing vegetables and riding ponies in the countryside."

 

Riley is also a writer: she has published two novels.

Riley published her first book, "Acts of Love," in 2016, and a subsequent novel, "The Quickening," in June.

"I mean, there's some pretty graphic stuff in there – like castration. I don't know if it would be good for TV. It basically turns into torture porn at the end," Riley told The Independent, referring to the "terrifying dystopian" plot of "The Quickening." 

Riley told the UK magazine Glamour in a 2016 interview that writing is a "really scary thing" but she doesn't allow "fear to overtake or cripple" her. 

Musk congratulated Riley on her first novel. While there were reports that her book was based on her relationship with Musk, he explained in a 2016 tweet that all of the novel's characters "are entirely fictional."

Riley also thanked Musk in the acknowledgments of "The Quickening" for being "the perfect ex-husband," per The Independent.

 

 

Riley is currently in a relationship with British actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster.

The "Pistol" co-stars first began dating in August 2021 — Riley and Brodie-Sangster were spotted holding hands in London, as shown in photos by celebrity news agency Backgrid. The couple then made an official appearance together at the British Academy Film Awards Gala Dinner in March

Brodie-Sangster is best-known for acting in the films "Love, Actually" and the "Maze Runner" saga. He's also appeared in "Game of Thrones" and "The Queen's Gambit."

Riley currently lives with Brodie-Sangster and her pets in Hertfordshire, per The Independent. Riley told The Times in a May interview that her relationship with Brodie-Sangster blossomed unexpectedly.

"We hadn't really acknowledged each other as a romantic possibility or potential until the moment that we both did," Riley said in the interview. "And it was the same moment a number of months after having worked together and been good friends."