Billionaire Elon Musk has commented on rumours that he is in a relationship with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after photos of them together sparked a wave of reaction on social media.
Photos posted online show the Tesla founder and the Italian prime minister looking into each other's eyes at the Global Citizen Awards in New York as Musk, 53, presented the award to 47-year-old Meloni.
"Find someone who looks at you the way Italian PM Georgia Meloni looks at Ilon Musk," a reader wrote on the X network under a photo of Musk touching Meloni's shoulder. "We all know what happened next," wrote another. The New York Post fueled speculation by calling what happened a "public love affair" between the world's richest man and Italy's first female prime minister.
But as soon as the photos swirled on social media, Musk tweeted that he had no romantic relationship with Meloni: "I was there with my mother. I don't have any romantic relationship with Ms Meloni."
Musk and Meloni have already met several times. Last June, the Italian prime minister received the billionaire at her official residence in Rome. In December, he returned to the country and spoke at a political festival organized by Meloni's far-right Italian Brothers party. According to the Telegraph, they discussed the declining birth rate in the West and the positive potential of artificial intelligence.
Meloni, who split from her longtime partner Andrea Giambruno after he made lewd comments on Italian television in 2023, even asked Musk to present her with the Citizen of the World award from the Atlantic Council think tank. In his brief remarks before accepting the award, Musk said Meloni was "someone who is even more beautiful on the inside than on the outside, which is not always the case with politicians," and called her "genuine, honest and thoughtful."
Elon Musk was married to the Grimes singer, previously dated actress Amber Heard (after her scandalous divorce from Johnny Depp). He is also credited with a relationship with actress Cameron Diaz. He has also been married twice: his first wife was Justin Wilson, and his second wife was Tallulah Riley. | BGNES
