Elon Musk and Amber Heard Relationship Timeline

• Amber Heard said she first bonded with Tesla CEO Elon Musk at a Met Gala.
• Musk and Heard reportedly began dating in 2017.
• At the time, Heard was engaged in divorce proceedings with actor Johnny Depp. 

Briefly, Tesla CEO Elon Musk dated actress Amber Heard amid her divorce from actor Johnny Depp.

Following their split, Musk started dating Canadian singer Grimes, the mother of two of Musk’s children. Here’s a timeline of Musk’s relationship with Amber Heard. 

2016

Amber Heard said she became friends with Elon Musk after her then-husband, Johnny Depp, stood her up at the 2016 Met Gala.

Heard said that Depp failed to attend the May 7 event in Manhattan, which was held around two weeks after the couple had an explosive fight that led to the end of their relationship, Depp said.

On the line for the red carpet, Heard met Musk, she said. She didn’t recognize him at first.

“I was standing in line, right in front of a gentleman. It was Elon,” Heard said. “I didn’t recognize him until we started talking. He has reminded me that we had met once before when he was with his mother.” 

2017

Depp and Heard’s divorce was finalized in January 2017, by which point there were already rumors of Heard moving on with Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. 

While Heard and Musk were spotted together, including in Miami and London, they didn’t make their relationship official until April 2017 via an Instagram post. 

Musk, who notoriously never takes vacations, traveled to Australia with Heard and his kids in May 2017.

A few months later, Heard said she had broken up with Musk. 

The actress wrote in an Instagram breakup announcement that although she and Musk have ended their romance, they “care deeply for one another and remain close.” Heard said she was going through “difficult, very human times.”

“Being in the public eye means having to explain yourself to so many people, so much of the time. In this case, I’d like to remain more quiet,” she wrote.

Musk confirmed the two had parted ways in a comment on one of Heard’s Instagram posts, saying the two remained close.

However, in December of 2017, Heard and Musk (who may or may not have been dating again) were spotted with friends in Chile.

2018

Musk and Heard continued to see each other after their breakup, before breaking up again in February 2018, according to People. 

Musk debuted his relationship with Canadian musician Grimes at the 2018 Met Gala in May 2018.

July 2020

The High Court in London read texts between Elon Musk and Amber Heard in which the Tesla founder offered to “arrange 24/7 security” for Heard after she told him she wanted a restraining order against Johnny Depp.

The texts, from May 22, 2016, came a day after an alleged incident in which Heard said Depp threw his phone at her face, an accusation Depp denies.

Depp’s lawyer, Eleanor Laws QC, read out texts from Musk that said: “The offer would stand, even if you never wanted to see me again … anyway, sorry for being an idiot. The radio silence hurts a lot. It only matters because I really like you.”

Laws also cited a statement from Alejandro Romero, who was the concierge at the Eastern Columbia Building, where Depp and Heard lived.

Romero said Musk visited Heard “when Mr. Depp was in Australia.”

“Ms. Heard was visited regularly late at night, at around 11 p.m. to midnight, by Mr. Elon Musk,” Romero said in his written statement.

Heard denied she was in a “relationship or seeing” Musk during the dates Romero and Laws suggested.

Laws also showed CCTV footage of Heard with actor James Franco in an Eastern Columbia Building elevator on May 22, 2016 — the same day as the texts between Musk and Heard — at 11 p.m. PT. Shortly after, the footage showed them traveling back upstairs with Franco.

April 2022

Heard became embroiled in a bitter legal fight with Depp after she filed for divorce from him in May 2016. Musk and Franco were dragged into the legal wrangle after Depp accused Heard of having “two extra-marital affairs” with them while she was still with him.

According to Depp’s lawsuit, Heard had Musk stay at their shared penthouse in Los Angeles while the actor was away filming a movie. Musk was on the witness list for the Depp-Heard defamation trial but ultimately did not testify.

At the trial, her former talent agent said Heard never really loved Musk.

Christian Carino was shown a text-message exchange he had with Heard, once a close personal friend of his, in August 2017 after her breakup with Musk became news.

Carino testified that Heard had “moved on immediately” from Depp to date Musk.

“You weren’t in love with him and you told me a thousand times you were just filling space,” Carino told Heard when she complained about the breakup making the news.

May 2022

A CEO of an art charity that Amber Heard testified to having donated $250,000 to says the money actually came from Elon Musk. Jennifer Howell, the CEO of the Art of Elysium, said that the organization only received one donation made in Heard’s name — a payment of $250,000 from an anonymous donor that they understood to be Musk.

It was the second charity official to say they believe an anonymous donation made in Heard’s name came from Musk. Previously, a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union said the organization received a $350,000 donation in Heard’s name from an account they believed to be associated with Musk.

Musk then weighed in on Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s legal battles in a tweet, saying he hopes they both “move on.”

November 2022

Heard’s account was unavailable on Twitter a few days after Musk bought the platform. The actress’ Twitter handle, @realAmberHeard, could not be found in early November 2022. It is unclear when exactly the account was deactivated or why.

The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine shows Heard still had her account as of September. Her Twitter page now just reads: “This account doesn’t exist.”