Trouble in Paradise 205
got out of a cab. I just didn’t think that would be you.”^158
Justine could sometimes dream of the life she had back
in her twenties. She was always broke, she was often lonely,
but she was free.^179 And after the move from San Francisco
to Los Angeles, it became worse. “I could no longer hide
my boredom when the men talked and the women smiled
and listened,” Justine said. “I wasn’t interested in Botox or
makeup or reducing the appearance of the scars from my
C-sections. The men were highly intelligent and successful.
The girls were sweet and bright enough, but academia had
never been much of a priority. Still, I was struck by how
they would break into conversation with a comment so
many light-years away from the sophisticated discourse
going on around the table that I would think they were
joking. They weren’t joking.”140,178,182
It went so far that Elon and Justine began visiting a
marriage counselor. But it didn’t work either, so Elon gave
an ultimatum. “Either we fix this marriage today or I will
divorce you tomorrow,” he said. But Justine didn’t want a
divorce, she wanted a change. “Divorce, for me, was like
the bomb you set off when all other options have been
exhausted,” she said. “We were still in the early stages of
marital counseling.” Elon, however, took matters into his
own hands. On June 16, 2008, Elon filed the divorce.^145
He said it was a mutual decision and the marriage ended
because they grew apart and didn’t make each other happy
anymore.^322
The problems didn’t end here. After the marriage, the
board of X.com thought Elon and Justine should visit a