Elon Musk’s college girlfriend is auctioning off never-seen-before pics of the billionaire

Elon Musk's ex-girlfriend is auctioning off their old pictures (Credit: RR Auctions)

Elon Musk’s ex-girlfriend is auctioning off mementos from their relationship to raise money for her stepson’s college tuition. Jennifer Gwynne dated Musk when they were both in their early 20s and studying at the University of Pennsylvania. Nearly three decades after their relationship ended, Gwynne has put on sale never-seen-before photographs of the billionaire.

Along with the previously-unseen photographs, Jennifer Gwynne, 48, is also auctioning off personal items like a birthday card signed by Musk and a necklace he presented to her.

South Carolina-based Gwynne spoke to the Daily Mail about her one-year relationship with Musk: “We met in the fall of 1994. I was a junior and he was a senior... we were in the same dorm and we worked together.”

She described Musk as shy but bursting with ambition. Even back then, he was interested in electric cars.

“He was very intense, very focused on his studies. Back then he was always talking about electric cars... he was definitely going somewhere,” revealed Gwynne.

As for their relationship, Gwynne says it was sweet but lacking in PDA. “When he is courting you, you know he is interested, but he wasn't extremely affectionate,” she said.

The couple broke up when Elon Musk moved to Palo Alto, California, in 1995 and started dating Justine Wilson, whom he later went on to marry.

Gwynne says she resisted selling off the pictures for years, but “now’s the time.”

Proceeds from the auction, she hopes, will put her stepson through college. “I've had these pictures and the notes for a long, long time. But now I'm like, "well the man cannot stay out of the headlines... so...” she said.

Some of the pictures, listed by RR Auctions, show Musk posing with other classmates. Still others show the baby-faced future-billionaire in formals or surrounded by bottles of alcohol.

A “big ticket” item in the auction is a birthday card signed by Musk, which has already received four bids, with the highest touching $1,300.