'Divorce Wars': Justine Musk Talks Split From Elon Musk

CNBC’s Divorce Wars, which premiers Tuesday at 9pm EST, takes viewers behind the scenes of contentious, multi-million dollar splits.

Anchor Melissa Francis talks to novelist Justine Musk about her high-profile split from PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk, who filed for divorce in 2008.

“He told me either we fix this marriage today or I’ll divorce you tomorrow,” Justine said. “And so the next day I went into my therapist’s office and he had left a message for her to tell me that he was filing for divorce.”

Justine is challenging the validity of a post-nuptial agreement she signed six weeks after their wedding, which states that everything she and her ex-husband acquired before and during their marriage was separate property and would remain separate property in the event of divorce.

“At the time [I signed the agreement] I really trusted my husband, I trusted that he wouldn’t do anything that would put me in harm’s way,” Justine said.

Elon Musk, who has criticized his ex-wife for speaking about their divorce publicly, wrote a blog on the Huffington Post addressing rumors about the split, including his engagement to British actress Talulah Riley and his personal finances.

“Given the choice, I'd rather stick a fork in my hand than write about my personal life," he wrote in July 2010. “Unfortunately, it seems that I don't have any other option. Several awful things have been widely reported that are simply false, but a falsehood uncorrected may as well be truth.”

WATCH:

Comments

[Lochinvar]

11:15 AM on 03/31/2011

And what exactly did she do to deserve so many millions of dollars? Musk could have met and married an almost infinite number of women. Only he helped create PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, etc. Should he have to help support her and the kids? Of course. Does she "deserve" half of what he has earned through brilliance and hard work? Give me a break!

[only connect]

06:15 PM on 03/29/2011

Justine, Justine, Justine...one a man is no longer putting his penis inside you, he really doesn't want to give you anything unless he absolutely has to. There is no more trust. I say this as a discarded wife who was just as shocked as you were to discover that I could no longer trust my husband of many years not to "put me in harm's way." I found that once a man is finished with a woman, she could fall off the face of the planet for all he cares.

P.S. I remember you and Elon from Zip2 days in Palo Alto, mid-1990s. Good luck!

[Justine Musk]

09:25 PM on 04/01/2011

Ha! Well, you know, ten years together, six babies....

Zip2, wow, that was a whole other lifetime ago! Absolute best to you. :)

[Kipooling]

09:40 PM on 04/04/2011

Justine, no disrespect towards you here, but asking for a list of things like that, much less a Tesla Roadster which will in no way benefit you and your kids more than a Toyota Prius would, makes me lose complete sympathy for you.

[Jazmo]

01:10 PM on 03/29/2011

If this lawsuit is still pending they should not be featured on, much less talking to, this show. There's enough "big" divorces out there without having to dig into the pending ones.

[rh654]

12:40 PM on 03/29/2011

Oh my, my, my - someone going through a divorce is upset because they thought they could "Trust their Spouse" - LOL - join reality...