Vivian Wilson Lashes Out at ‘Pathetic Manchild’ Father Elon Musk, ‘Terrifying’ Trump Administration

While in many ways she’s the typical all-American young woman, notes the outlet in its interview, including having a “complicated relationship with her father,” what’s atypical is that her father is not only the richest man in the world, but now one of the most powerful.

It’s a relationship she’s not only never tried to capitalize on, but has legally tried to disconnect from insofar as she tried in 2022 to legally get her name changed as she did not “wish to be related to [her] biological father in any way, shape or form.”

She also hit the national spotlight as a result of comments her father made about her shortly before endorsing Trump for president, when he repeatedly deadnamed her in an interview and said she’d been “killed by the woke mind virus.”

As noted by Teen Vogue, Musk commented extensively on a 2023 eponymous biography that painted a picture of the extensive efforts he made to connect with her, and tweeted that she may suffer from “gender dysphoria,” writing that he knew of Wilson’s “love of musicals & theatre. But he was not a girl.”

That brought Wilson into the conversation, and she responded with passion and poise in a lengthy series of posts on Threads (social media competitor to Musk’s X). In it, she proceeded to break down every point of his argument.

“This is entirely fake. Like, literally none of this ever happened. Ever. I don’t even know where he got this from,’ Wilson wrote then, doubling down on this position in her chat with Teen Vogue.

“The story in the Isaacson biography where he apparently sold all of his houses and lived in an apartment to make up with me? That’s not true. What the f–k?” she said. “He never lived in an apartment, as far as I’m aware.”

“I hadn’t talked to him in years, and suddenly there’s this story of, ‘He sold his houses to please his anti-capitalist daughter,’ which is insane,” she continued. “This did not happen. What are you on about? I haven’t talked to him since 2020. That was almost half a decade ago at this point. Thank God.”

She called that whole back-and-forth “the most cathartic moment of my entire life by far.”

“I had all this pent-up energy, I had wanted to speak out for so long after being [essentially] defamed in a book, after being doxxed,” she explained. “Everything that had gone on — especially in my childhood — when that finally happened, it was the most cathartic experience I have ever had.”

“And then I was like, Okay, whatever.”

When asked about her childhood, Vivian opens up about growing up with four siblings. But when it comes to her actual family size, including half-siblings, she admitted she doesn’t even really know the full extent of it.

“That’s a question,” she replied when asked if she was on good terms with her siblings. “I will say I do not actually know how many siblings I have, if you include half-siblings. That’s just a fun fact.”

She went on to note that she found out about Trump’s new apparently child with Shivon Zilis “the same time everyone else did,” and she learned about Grimes’ second child with him through drag queen Tatianna posting about it on Reddit, which is the same way she found out about his child with Ashley St. Clair.

“If I had a nickel for every time I found out I had half-siblings through Reddit, I’d have two nickels,” she quipped.

Ultimately, Vivian said, “I don’t keep up with that side of the family because… I don’t … I don’t really give a f**k what they do. This is not my problem, okay? I’ve seen X once, when he was very little.”

She’s also completely okay with having zero communication with her father, no matter what he might be saying about her. “I haven’t talked to him since 2020,” she said. “That was almost half a decade ago at this point. Thank God.”

“As a trans woman, I am terrified of losing access to guaranteed medical care,” Vivian said amid ongoing anti-trans legislation and rhetoric across the nation and coming from the White House.

“If I didn’t medically transition at the age I did, I don’t know what would’ve happened,” she said. “Transitioning as a minor was something that was medically necessary for me to do in order to be not suicidal.”

At the same time, she said she feels “obligated” to speak out on trans issues publicly, and especially as someone who transitioned as a minor, because “there’s so much villainization of that.”

She said she hopes to “raise awareness of the fact that trans care for minors, especially puberty blockers, is really, really important. So maybe stop demonizing these literal children or the people around these children who are just trying to help them to feel comfortable in their own skin.”

“Obviously, it’s not just trans people that are affected by the current administration,” Vivian acknowledged, mentioning other “marginalized groups such as undocumented immigrants and people of color.”

She said she’s “trying to do more advocacy on that front, since the current administration has kind of been like a wrecking ball in that regard.”

In fact, that’s kind of how she describes the whole Trump administration, saying that she thinks the country is moving in the wrong direction and “it’s terrifying.”

“Every time I open my phone to read the news, I kind of just stare at the wall for 10 minutes,” she said. “It’s horrifying what they’re doing, not only to the trans community, but also to migrants, to communities of color, to so many marginalized communities that are being systematically targeted by the new administration and having protections revoked.”

“It’s cartoonishly evil.”

While Vivian’s father is obviously a big part of what’s happening in the White House, Vivian insists he personally doesn’t take up a lot of space in her world, she is aware of what he’s up to, and sometimes feels compelled to wade in.

“I’ll see things about him in the news and think, That’s f–king cringe, I should probably post about this and denounce it, which I have done a few times.”

One such moment was his alleged Nazi salutes, which Musk has denied had any association with Adolf Hitler’s signature move. Calling the whole thing “insane,” Vivian told Teen Vogue, “Honey, we’re going to call a fig a fig, and we’re going to call a Nazi salute what it was. That s–t was definitely a Nazi salute.”

“The crowd is equally to blame, and I feel like people are not talking about that. That crowd should be denounced,” she added.

She went on to not that other than speaking out when she feels it needs to be done, “I don’t give a f–k about him. I really don’t,” adding that it’s “annoying that people associate me with him.”

She’s also not impressed with the ultra-wealthy, saying that wealth should not be “hoarded by these mega-billionaires who are the top 1%, who only have their own interests at heart.”

“I’ve met some of these billionaires — they’re not very good people. I don’t think any of them are,” she said.

She even believes that growing up around that kind of “extravagant wealth” while “living in Los Angeles and seeing the [huge] homelessness problem,” she found herself wondering, “How is this fair??”

“You have to inevitably come to the conclusion it’s not,” she concluded. “There is no world in which people should be owning multiple private planes, private islands, private whatever, while other people are sleeping on the street.”

When asked if she’s at all afraid of her father, considering he is the richest man in the world and wields a pretty unprecedented amount of political power right now, Vivian replied, “He’s a pathetic man-child. Why would I feel scared of him?”

“Ohhh, he has so much power. Nah, nah, nah. I don’t give a f–k. Why should I be scared of this man? Because he’s rich?” she asked. “Oh, no, I’m trembling. Ooh, shivering in my boots here. I don’t give a f–k how much money anyone has. I don’t. I really don’t. He owns Twitter. Okay. Congratulations.”

“People thrive off of fear. I’m not giving anyone that space in my mind,” she continued. “The only thing that gets to live free in my mind are drag queens.”

When asked about what brings her joy now and what she dreams about for her future, Vivian said she’s “really interested in drag. I love drag.”

“I have such an appreciation for the art form, and I would love to participate in the LA scene sometime,” she added. “It’s on my bucket list to win a drag pageant.”

When asked how she’d approach that world, Vivian said she’d probably have more fun as a “drag king,” but would be open to exploring both. “Honestly, what if I was a femboy drag king? I would eat that up,” she laughed.

As for how she’d hit the stage, Vivian said her first number would be “the iconic cerulean speech from The Devil Wears Prada. I would just gradually reveal more and more cerulean, and just live my Meryl Streep fantasy. I’m obsessed with that movie.”

Now that she’s suddenly got a spotlight and a platform, Vivian said she’s considering other possibilities, too, telling Teen Vogue, “I haven’t made any money from being famous at all. I have made zero dollars and zero cents. I do live in a lot of people’s heads rent-free, though.”

As such, she’s considered Twitch streaming, even though she concedes “I don’t feel like the world needs another Twitch streamer.” She’s also considered modeling or even reality television, which she says is her “absolute dream … which I know is absolutely pathetic.”

“As an overdramatic little queer, reality shows are something I adore beyond belief,” she said with a laugh.