Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, recently filed for a dissolution of marriage with his wife, Nicole Shanahan, early in January. The two are going their separate ways after being married for three years.
Sergey Brin and Nicole Shanahan started their romance in 2015. The same year, the Google co-founder finalized his divorce from his first wife, Anne Wojcicki.
Brin and Shanahan’s wedding took place in 2018, and they welcomed a child later that year. Besides becoming Sergey Brin’s wife, Shanahan also became the stepmom of Benji and Chloe, Brin’s children from ex-wife Wojcicki.
Who is Nicole Shanahan?
Nicole Shanahan was born in Oakland on May 14, 1985. Her mother immigrated from China. She grew up in a low-income family, where her mother raised her alone. As of 2023, she is 38 years old and has an estimated net worth of $50 million, with an annual income of around $3-5 million.
Shanahan is a lawyer based in California specializing in criminal justice reform. She also works on improving marriage contracts to “promote healthier domestic partnerships.”
Shanahan’s Education, Foundation Work, and Academic Fellowship
Shanahan got her B.A. in Tacoma, Washington, at the University of Puget Sound. There, she studied Mandarin Chinese, Asian Studies, and Economics. Later, she received her J.D. at the Santa Clara University School of Law.
She is also the founder of a few foundations, one of which is the Bia-Echo Foundation, where she also happens to be the president. It invests in changemakers at the forefront of innovation, tackling the world’s greatest challenges, such as working towards a healthy and livable planet, reproductive longevity and equality, and criminal justice reform.
She is also ClearAccessIP’s founder and CEO. According to her LinkedIn profile, it’s a platform for automated patent management and valuation.
In addition to her outstanding college background and foundation work, Nicole Shanahan is also part of the academic fellowship of CodeX. It is a center that combines Standford’s computer since and legal schools to work on significant issues at the crossroads of technology and law.
The Elon Musk Affair Allegations
Shanahan recently made headlines after the Wall Street Journal reported she briefly got involved in an affair last fall with Tesla founder Elon Musk. Since then, both she and Musk have denied the allegations.
According to the WSJ article on Twitter, Musk, a father of ten, said that the allegations are “B.S.” He adds that he and Brin are friends, even partying together the night before. In another post, Musk said that nothing romantic is happening between him and Shanahan and that he has only seen her twice in three years, both occasions with many people around them.
As for Shanahan’s side, lawyer Bryan Freedman says that any suggestion regarding Shanahan having an affair with Elon Musk isn’t only an outright lie but also a defamatory statement.
Child Custody and Divorce Proceedings
While married, Sergey Brin and Nicole Shanahan only had one daughter. Following the divorce, and as listed in the court documents, Brin is requesting joint custody of their daughter. He is also not interested in getting spousal support from Shanahan. Brin also requests that Shanahan not get awarded one.
Divorce is always a tough experience, even for rich people like Nicole Shanahan and Sergey Brin. However, it’s sometimes the only way for people to move forward with their life, especially for those couples that failed to keep the flames of their romance burning.