Sustaining marriage for the 44-year-old billionaire entrepreneur and innovator is almost as challenging as developing his electric car Tesla, designing rockets that deliver supplies to the space station- SpaceX, or founding PayPal.

Silicon Valley tycoon, Elon Musk, called the Thomas Edison of our time, remains married to his second wife, Talulah Riley, after divorcing her once, marrying her twice and tearing up the second set of divorce papers.

Talulah met her man at London's West End club, Whisky Mist, in Mayfair in 2008 when he was trying to clear his head after divorcing his first wife, Justine Wilson, after a six-year marriage that produced five children.

Introduced by the club's promoter, Musk was aroused by the curvy, sultry-eyed actress who arrived with a girlfriend, wearing a full-length, flowing gown showing her 'dazzling figure,' describes author Ashlee Vance in Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, published by Ecco Books.

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Loved up: Elon Musk and Talulah Riley have been married, divorced, married and almost divorced again. After meeting in London, they met up in Beverly Hills several weeks later and lying in bed together at the Peninsula Hotel, he asked her to marry him. He didn't have a ring so he suggested they shake on it

Happy together: Said Talulah: 'Elon doesn't have to listen to anyone in life. No one. But he proved he would take s**t from me'

Starter wife: Justine viewed Musk as her conquering hero but at their wedding reception, she saw a different face. He pulled her close and told her, 'I am the alpha in this relationship'

'She did look great, but what was going through my mind was 'Oh, I guess they are a couple of models. You know, you can't actually talk to most models.' But Talulah was really interested in talking about rockets and electric cars.'

They had lunch the following day and Musk told Talulah, still a virgin at 22, that he wanted to show her his rockets.

'I was skeptical, but he did actually show me rocket videos,' Talulah stated.

They met up again in Beverly Hills several weeks later and lying in bed together at the Peninsula Hotel, he asked her to marry him. He didn't have a ring so he suggested they shake on it and they did.

He later gave her three engagement rings – a giant one, an everyday ring, and a third with a diamond surrounded by ten sapphires.

'I remember him saying, 'Being with me was choosing the hard path'. I didn't quite understand at the time, but I do now. It's quite hard, quite the crazy ride'.

Talulah thought she was stepping into life with 'a world conquering, jet-setting billionaire'.

It turned out to be a baptism by fire. His divorce was not final from Justine, he was short on cash and his two big investments, SpaceX and Tesla desperately needed cash infusions.

He had intense nightmares that made him yell out, climb on her and start screaming in his sleep.

She saw him through a very rough period of borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars, burning through $4 million a month to keep his projects alive, borrowing from friends to make payroll and negotiating with investors.

Elon had a miserable childhood and brutal upbringing in South Africa by his father who exerted some unidentified form of psychological torture on the boy

Last licks: When they got engaged the first time, Elon gave Talulah three engagement rings – a giant one, an everyday ring, and a third with a diamond surrounded by ten sapphires

The morning Elon filed for divorce, he cut off Justine's credit card. She continued blogging and fought for more money in their divorce settlement. Elon didn't have any liquid assets at the time but she ended up with $2 million in cash, $80,000 a month in alimony, child support for seventeen years and a coveted Tesla roadster

He retreated within himself. He lost a lot of weight, bags formed under his eyes and 'he looked like death itself', Riley said.

'I remember thinking this guy would have a heart attack and die. He seemed like a man on the brink' – that is until SpaceX metamorphosed from the joke of the aeronautics industry into one of its most consistent operators.'

SpaceX sends a rocket up about once a month, carrying satellites for companies and nations and supplies to the International Space Station' and has once again made the United States a player in the worldwide commercial launch market.

He lost a lot of weight, bags formed under his eyes and he looked like death itself. Talulah Riley Musk

While turning Tesla into a star of modern American industry the marriage with Talulah was over and the couple divorced.

They were apart for less than a year before getting back together again.

'I just wasn't happy', Riley said.

'I thought maybe I had made the wrong decision for my life.'

But she came back to Elon because of 'the lack of viable alternatives'.

'I looked around, and there was no one else nice to be with. Number two is that Elon doesn't have to listen to anyone in life. No one. He doesn't have to listen to anything that doesn't fit into his worldview. But he proved he would take s**t from me'.

'He said, 'Let me listen to her and figure this thing out.' He proved that he valued my opinion on things in life and was willing to listen. I thought it was quite a telling thing for the man – that he made the effort. And then, I love him and missed him'.

Talulah hung in there to share Musk's net worth, now estimated to be around $10 billion.

Eight years before meeting Talulah Riley, the South African-born Musk had courted and married Canadian author Justine Wilson.

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They shared the passion of young love. 'We fought a lot, but when we weren't fighting, there was a deep sense of compassion – a bond,' Justine said.

'Musk exuded a confidence and passion that made Justine think life with him would always be okay,' writes the author.

She viewed him as a conquering hero, her conquering hero but at their wedding reception, she saw a different face of her hero.

He pulled her close and told her, 'I am the alpha in this relationship'. She signed a postnuptial financial agreement two months later that ended up haunting her in what became an enduring power struggle.

'He was constantly remarking on the ways he found me lacking. "I am your wife," I told him, "not your employee".

Elon does what he wants and he is relentless about it. It's Elon's world and the rest of us live in it. Justine Musk, Elon's first wife

'"If you were my employee", he often said, "I would fire you".

'Elon does what he wants and he is relentless about it', Justine said. 'It's Elon's world and the rest of us live in it.'

Justine knew all about Elon's miserable childhood and brutal upbringing in South Africa by his father who exerted some unidentified form of psychological torture.

Justine walked into their marriage knowing he was a tortured soul.

Growing up with a sister, Tosca, and brother, Kimbal, Elon wasn't interested in sports in an athletics-obsessed culture.

He spent his time reading. He often drifted off into trances and read too many comic books and then two books a day. He became the classic know-it-all who abrasively enjoyed correcting people, happily showing them that their thinking was flawed.

His classmates didn't let him get away with that. They loved to beat him up.

He was kicked in the head, shoved down a flight of stairs, kicked in the side, his head bashed against the ground until he passed out. It took a week to recover.

'For some reason, they decided that I was it, and they were going to go after me nonstop. That's what made growing up difficult. For a number of years, there was no respite.

'You get chased around by gangs at school who tried to beat the s**t out of me, and then I'd come home, and it would just be awful there as well. It was just like nonstop horrible'.

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He escaped South Africa and landed in Canada where he had an uncle in Montreal. He worked his way across Canada and ended up at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

Justine Wilson was a fellow student who 'radiated romance and sexual energy'. She had dumped an older man to go to college and figured that her next conquest would be a damaged James Dean sort.

Elon saw her on campus and went to work on winning her affections.

'She looked pretty great. She was also smart and this intellectual with sort of an edge. She had a black belt in tae kwon do and was semi-bohemian and, you know, like the hot chick on campus.'

But she wasn't dating Musk exclusively and that drove him nuts. He wore her down, calling her insistently sending flowers, handwritten romantic musings.

By the year 2000, living together in Silicon Valley, she thought if she was going to put up with all his drama, they should be married and she suggested that he propose to her. He got down on his knee and did so on the spot.

They vacationed in December in Brazil and then South Africa at a game reserve near the Mozambique border.

I want you to think ahead and think so hard every day that your head hurts. I want your head to hurt every night when you go to bed.

Elon contacted the most virulent form of malaria that was misdiagnosed and mistreated which nearly killed him. A day later without the proper treatment he would have been dead. Six months passed before he was well again.

The couple decided on a change and to begin the next chapter of their lives in Los Angeles where Justine got pregnant.

She gave birth to a son, Nevada, who tragically died of sudden infant death syndrome at ten weeks. It broke Elon's heart and he grieved in private.

Justine gave birth to twins and then triplets within the next five years but that didn't temper Elon.

He was tough on the people who worked for him. If marketing people made grammatical mistakes in emails, they were let go.

Intimidating, he told employees, 'I want you to think ahead and think so hard every day that your head hurts. I want your head to hurt every night when you go to bed'.

He had tirades at suppliers who let him down and talked of balls being chopped off or and other violent or sexual acts.

He spit coffee across a conference room table because it was cold.

To dig Tesla out of its financial problems, he had to lose his entire fortune and almost have a nervous breakdown.

She had him at hello, and Talulah was really interested in talking about rockets and electric cars.

The couple immersed themselves in the Hollywood nightlife and partied every night.

Leonardo DiCaprio begged for a free Tesla Roadster but Musk turned him down.

All the while, Justine blogged about the party scene, turning it into a nightmare for Elon who was called 'part playboy, part space cowboy'.

By spring of 2007, the marriage was in trouble and Justine was suffering postpartum depression.

She felt she was treated like 'an arm ornament and couldn't possibly have anything interesting to say'. Elon had no respect for her writing.

She felt like a trophy wife with her team of nannies taking care of their five children.

By June of 2008, Musk was out of money and filed for divorce. Moving in with Justine's parents was not a viable option.

Justine went house hunting with Sharon Stone and blogged that the marriage was 'a good run'.

'We married young, took it as far as we could and now it is over.'

The morning that Elon filed for divorce, he cut off Justine's credit card.

She continued blogging and fought for more money in their divorce settlement. She appeared on CNBC's Divorce Wars, and wrote a story for Marie Claire, 'I Was A Starter Wife'.

Elon didn't have any liquid assets at the time but she ended up with $2 million in cash, $80,000 a month in alimony, child support for seventeen years and that coveted Tesla roadster.

Justine continued to work out her revenge in her blog, even giving her views on Musk's new girlfriend and future second wife, Talulah.

It was the first time, the public got some insight into Musk's hardline behavior.

'We were at war for a while, and when you go to war with Elon, it's pretty brutal'.

According to the author, 'the pair have continued to have their difficulties.'



Ashlee Vance in Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance is published by Ecco Books.and available on Amazon