Elon Musk denies affair with Google co-founder's wife

Elon Musk has denied claims he had an affair with Google co-founder Sergey Brin's wife.

On Sunday, editors at The Wall Street Journal reported that the Tesla chief executive "engaged in a brief affair" with Nicole Shanahan last year. It was claimed that the alleged relationship led to the ending of the "tech billionaires' long friendship".

On Monday, Musk took to Twitter to reject the report.

"This is total bs (bulls**t). Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!" he wrote. "I've only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic."

In further tweets, Musk blasted reporters at the newspaper for not reaching out to him before publishing the article.

"WSJ has run so many bs hit pieces on me and Tesla I've lost count! It's embarrassing for them, frankly. They once wrote an article saying FBI was about to arrest me, so I called FBI to ask what's up and they said WSJ article was total bs," the 51-year-old continued. "WSJ is supposed to have a high standard for journalism and, right now, they are way sub tabloid. WSJ should be running stories that actually matter to their readers and have solid factual basis, not third-party random hearsay."

Brin and Shanahan, who wed in 2018, separated last December. He filed for divorce in January.

Musk was married to Justin Wilson between 2000 and 2008 and to Talulah Riley twice from 2013 until 2016 and again from 2010 until 2012.

Most recently, he was in a relationship with singer-songwriter Grimes.