She is alleged to have broken up Elon Musk’s friendship with Sergey Brin over years. After growing up in poverty, she went on to become a lawyer before dating one of the richest men in the world.

Nicole Shanahan, 37, is  said to have had a brief affair with Musk at Art Basel, a multi-day art event in Miami, in December of last year, which prompted her Google co-founder husband to file for divorce in January.

Brin is said to be worth $95 billion. However, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Musk’s affair with Nicole was the cause.

Both were in Miami to attend the Miami Art Festival, when Shanahan & Brin were already experiencing marital difficulties due to COVID-19 stress and the raising of their daughter. 

Musk had recently separated from his girlfriend Grimes.

Brin, who filed for divorce just one month later, listed December 15th as the date of their separation. According to reports, he also instructed his assistants that all his Musk investments be taken out of Musk companies.

According to sources, Shanahan wants $1,000,000 in divorce settlement. That’s more than the prenup she signed, but still a lot less than the amount she received as a child on food stamps.

Her work in fighting criminal justice reform and improving the environment, as well as her research on women’s reproductive health, has earned her the title of a “changemaker”.

Nicole Shanahan (37), was raised on food stamps by her parents, who were both unemployed, before becoming an entrepreneur. Here she is in September, at the Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala.

Shanahan is said to have had an affair with Tesla CEO Elon Musk when they were both at Art Basel, a multi-day art event in Miami, in December of last year

The affair reportedly led her husband, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, to file for divorce, and signaled an end to his friendship with Musk

Shanahan is said to have had an affair with Tesla CEO Elon Musk when they were both at Art Basel, a multi-day art event in Miami, in December of last year. According to reports, the affair led Sergey Brin (Google co-founder) to file for divorce and ended their friendship.

Shanahan spoke out about the challenges she experienced as a child, and how these helped her become an entrepreneur.

“As a child, I had to really figure out how it all works on my own,” she stated, explaining that her father, who was bipolar, was her dad, while her mother, a Chinese immigrant, was trying to get by in America.

Shanahan said that his dad, who was bipolar schizophrenia in my thirties, had just been born to me when he was nine years old. Shanahan also mentioned that Shanahan’s mother was Chinese and she only lived there for two more years.

“I had to live with two parents who were unemployed for most of my childhood. There was no money and almost no guidance. And, as you might imagine, it was chaotic.

According to her, it was because she had to learn how to succeed on her own. She bused tables when she was 12 years old and then used the Internet to find jobs and colleges.

“I learnt how to win in a creative way by making objects that were not meant to perform as well as they could.”

According to her LinkedIn profile, she began attending University of Puget Sound in 2003. She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Mandarin Chinese.

After that, she continued her studies at the National University of Singapore to learn about global intellectual property and Chinese law. In 2013, she joined Santa Clara University as a lawyer.

Shanahan has said her struggles growing up in poverty had led her to become resourceful

Shanahan said that her struggle to grow up poor led her into being resourceful

In 2020, she founded Bia-Echo, an investment firm that pours money into organizations supporting reproductive longevity and equality; criminal justice reform; and preserving a healthy and livable planet

In 2020, she founded Bia-Echo, an investment firm that pours money into organizations supporting reproductive longevity and equality; criminal justice reform; and preserving a healthy and livable planet

Modern Luxury reports that when she was just 20 years old, she had gotten a job as a patent specialist at RPX Corporation. However, her resignation came after only 10 months, after having been sexually assaulted.

Shanahan stated that she suffered from severe depression and quit the law. She then moved in with her aunt.

After a time, however, ClearAccessIP was able to get back to work and she even started her own AI-enabled company for patent management, ClearAccessIP. ClearAccessIP was sold last year.

Bia-Echo is an investment company she started. It invests in organizations that support reproductive longevity and equality, criminal justice reform, and preservation of a healthy, livable planet. 

Shanahan had earlier supported these goals through her husband’s organization, the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, but started working on these goals herself in 2020, when she founded the foundation.

Since then, it has teamed up with the Buck Center for Reproductive Longevity and Equality and National University of Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in order to create the Bia-Echo Asia Centre for Reproductive Longevity and Equality. Here scientists study women’s fertility.

The company is working to improve soil health and reduce carbon emissions in agriculture.

Shanahan was also an academic fellow at Code X (the Stanford Center of Legal Informatics), where she initiated the Smart Prosecution Project, a multidisciplinary project that applied data science to prosecutorial processes with collaborations between community groups and district attorneys.

According to her, the goal of her work is to build a “legacy” of ideas.

She said, “I want my legacy be one of ideas.” I want it to revolve around improving the human experience here on Earth in a rich way.

I want it be filled with strength, love, and compassion. This is a place where one can work hard and learn from their mistakes. It’s a place of personal growth.

Shanahan had met Brin - the eighth richest man in the world - at a yoga retreat in 2015, and the two were married in a private ceremony on November 7, 2018

Shanahan, who was the eighth wealthiest man on the planet, had first met Brin at a Yoga retreat in 2015. The couple were then married privately in November 2018.

Shanahan, a former wife to a financial executive, married Brin in 2015 at a retreat for yoga.

According to Economic Times, they were married in a quiet ceremony on November 7, 2018. 

Shanahan spoke publicly about the fertility problems that Shanahan had suffered for years and eventually gave birth to a girl.

“Like so many other women, who don’t feel ready to have a baby in their 30s,” she said to Page Six. 

“But after trying three times unsuccessfully to make embryos and visiting a dozen in-vitro fertilization clinics throughout the Bay Area, my faith was shaken.

After learning about his four-year marriage to Brin, he filed for divorce in January.

To protect his daughter, he cited “irreconcilable disagreements” in the divorce papers. 

Google founder Larry Page is seeking to divide custody with her in the divorce agreement. The couple are trying to protect their identities from any speculation that their daughter might be harmed or abducted. 

Musk had been friends with Brin for years prior to the alleged affair, and Brin even gave Musk $500,000 to fund Tesla at the height of the financial crisis in 2008. They are pictured here with Larry Page in the early 2000s

Musk and Brin had known each other for many years before the affair. Brin gave Musk $500,000 at the height the 2008 financial crisis to help fund Tesla. In the early 2000s, they were pictured together with Larry Page.

Sergey and Elon’s long-standing friendship was abruptly ended by Shanahan’s affair.

Sergey and the tech mogul were seen together many times during the 2000s. In 2008, Sergey provided $500,000 funding for Tesla in peak financial crisis. 

Elon also spoke fondly about Sergey’s home crashing. 

Musk is reported to have met Sergey and asked him for forgiveness at a party where he had filed for divorce.

Although he publicly acknowledged his apology, sources from the Journal claim that they no longer speak regularly. 

Brin has now reportedly ordered his aides to sell his multiple interests in Musk’s many businesses.

Musk hasn’t yet spoken out on the claims.