Elon Musk's first wife says he often told her: 'If you were my employee, I'd fire you'

During his divorce proceedings, Elon Musk told the media that he had offered an $80 million settlement to Justine Musk, which she declined.

Elon Musk's new biography details his professional and personal journey, but there's another story, that delves into another side of his life -- one written by his first wife, Justine Musk.

The author had earlier revealed the intricacies of their romance, and their challenges and elaborated on how they separated. Titled "I Was a Starter Wife," the account published in Marie Claire also claimed how the tech billionaire would often tell her "If you were my employee, I'd fire you" before they eventually got a divorce.

Their story began when they attended Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. Justine, an aspiring writer, met Elon Musk, a "clean-cut, upper-class boy with a South African accent". After a brief initial interaction after which Justine tried to blow him off, but Musk was persistent as ever, eventually caught Justine's attention. "He's not a man who takes no for an answer," she wrote.

They began dating and, despite going their separate ways for a while, reunited when Musk moved to Silicon Valley where he cofounded Zip2 Corp. His fortune began to rise, especially after the sale of the company, but the transition from struggling entrepreneur to a millionaire changed the dynamics of their relationship.

Justine recollected that Elon Musk wanted her to sign a financial agreement before their wedding in 2020, which she refused since she did not fully understand its implications. But the complexity of their relationship soon aggravated with Musk's "self-proclaimed alpha status" overshadowing hers. She often felt treated more like an employee than a wife.

"Elon's judgment overruled mine," Justine wrote in her account. "He was constantly remarking on the ways he found me lacking. 'I am your wife,' I told him repeatedly, 'not your employee'. 'If you were my employee,' he said just as often, 'I would fire you.'

The couple finally got a divorce in September 2008. During the proceedings, Elon Musk told Business Insider that he had proffered an $80 million settlement to Justine, which she declined. She sought part ownership of Tesla and SpaceX, but the court denied it. Ultimately, Justine was awarded $20,000 monthly for personal expenses, in addition to an undisclosed alimony sum. She was also given the family's 6,000-square-foot house in the Bel Air hills making the divorce one of history's costliest separations, as labeled by The New York Post.

Read more: Walter Isaacson's Elon Musk book review: The difficulty of pinning down Elon Musk and his many contradictions