Speaking on Nikhil Kamath’s podcast, Musk highlighted Zilis’s Canadian upbringing, ancestral Indian roots, and their growing family, including twins Strider and Azure.
By PC Bureau
December 1, 2025: Elon Musk, the visionary entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX, recently opened up about his partner, Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, revealing her Indian heritage and a unique nod to Indian scientific legacy in their family. On the podcast People by WTF, hosted by Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, Musk disclosed that one of their sons carries the middle name “Sekhar,” in honour of Indian-American astrophysicist and 1983 Nobel Prize winner Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
“I’m not sure if you know this, but my partner Shivon is half Indian,” Musk said. He added, “One of my sons with her, his middle name is Sekhar after Chandrasekhar.” Chandrasekhar was celebrated globally for his groundbreaking work on the structure and evolution of stars, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics.
When asked about Zilis’s connection to India, Musk clarified that it is ancestral rather than cultural. “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,” he explained, adding that he did not know the full details of her biological family.
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Zilis herself is a prominent figure in technology and artificial intelligence. She joined Neuralink in 2017 and currently serves as the company’s director of operations and special projects. She has an impressive career, including positions at IBM and Bloomberg, and was the youngest member of the OpenAI board before stepping down in 2023.
Elon Musk reveals his partner is half-Indian & one of his son’s middle name is ‘Sekhar’ after the physicist S. Chandrasekhar, MAGA racists losing their minds right now #NikhilKamath pic.twitter.com/oWoPOJhPaP
— Atishay Jain (@AtishayyJain96) December 1, 2025
Musk and Zilis quietly welcomed twins, Strider and Azure, in 2021, followed by daughter Arcadia in 2024. Zilis later confirmed the birth of their fourth child, Seldon Lycurgus. Musk, of course, has several other children with different partners.
During the podcast, Musk also praised the impact of Indian professionals in the United States. “I think America has benefited immensely from talented Indians that have come to America,” he noted. His comments come at a time when many Indians face increasing challenges due to tighter US visa regulations and unpredictable immigration policies, highlighting the continued importance of global talent mobility.
