Nothing says romance quite like gatekeeping.
Author Walter Isaacson – working on an upcoming biography about Elon Musk – posted an excerpt of the book to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
The excerpt he shared outlines Musk’s courtship with Grimes, and to some, the Tesla CEO’s flirting style may seem a bit off the beaten path.
According to the excerpt, the Oblivion singer compared Musk to J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional wizard Gandalf on their second date. Her reference immediately resulted in Musk giving her a “rapid-fire trivia test on Lord of the Rings.”
“He wanted to see whether she was truly a faithful fan. She passed,” Isaacson wrote.
“That mattered to me,” Musk told Isaacson of Grimes passing his little pop quiz.
This, however, wasn’t the most obnoxious thing Musk did to woo Grimes on their second date. While driving to a restaurant, Musk decided to peacock a bit by flaunting his Tesla.
“He showed how fast the car accelerated, then took his hands off the wheel, covered his eyes, and let her experience Autopilot,” Isaacson writes.
“I was like, ‘Oh shit, this guy is fucking crazy,’” Grimes told Isaacson. But apparently, his stunt impressed the musician — although Tesla’s Model Y owner’s manual advises that drivers do not operate the vehicle this way, per People.
“The car was signalling and changing lanes by itself,” Grimes told Isaacson. “It felt like a scene out of a Marvel movie.”
The excerpt also describes the former couple’s first date, which consisted of Musk inviting Grimes to visit the Tesla factory in Fremont, California — Musk’s “idea of a good date,” Isaacson wrote.
“We just walked the floor all night, and I watched him try to fix things,” Grimes told Isaacson.
Although her inclusion of the word “try” is an amusing bit of shade, it seems that Musk’s tactics worked — and during their courtship, Grimes gifted Musk with “a box of animal bones she had collected,” according to Isaacson.
The pair split in 2021 after three years of dating. They had two children together — a son named X Æ A-12 in 2020 and a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl in 2021.
Here’s to hoping Musk doesn’t pull any of these stunts on his kids when they get older.