Elon Musk says he and Grimes' semi-separation is a "long-term thing" because their respective careers keep them apart.
The 50-year-old Tesla CEO and the 33-year-old singer – real name Claire Boucher – were in a relationship from 2018 until 2021 and have 20-month-old son X Æ A-Xii together, but in September they confirmed they had split.
Elon admits it is unlikely that they will reunite as a full-time couple because she needs to be in Los Angeles for her music career, whereas his work and research with space flight company SpaceX keeps him at the remote Starbase in Texas for much of the time.
Speaking in an interview in TIME magazine, he said: "Grimes and I are, I’d say, probably semi-separated. We weren’t seeing each other that much, and I think this is to some degree a long-term thing, because what she needs to do is mostly in L.A. or touring, and my work is mostly in remote locations like this.”
Elon – who has been named TIME's 2021 Person of the Year – insists there is no other women in his life at the moment, and his commitment to his space tourism project and desire to reach Mars mean that there isn't much time for him to meet new people.
Discussing life at his Starbase headquarters, he said: "This place is basically like a technology monastery, you know. There are some women here, but not many. And it’s remote.”
Elon – who has been married on two occasions to his college sweetheart Justine Miller and to British actress Talulah Riley – was apparently the subject of a recent song by Grimes.
Grimes released a new song titled 'Player of Games', which seemingly alludes to her former partner.
In the lyrics, she sings, "I’m in love with the greatest gamer, but he’ll always love the game more than he loves me," before going on to add, "Sail away to the cold expanse of space, even love couldn’t keep you in your place".
Before making his first million at the age of 27, Musk was an avid creator of video games, with the entrepreneur claiming on Twitter that his tenure at Rocket Science Games was a "night job".