Thirty seconds into my interview with Vivian Jenna Wilson, daughter of Elon Musk, she got emotional.
She was feeling particularly ‘homesick’, thousands of miles away from Los Angeles.
‘I am very blessed to have a community in LA and a circle of friends that I hold very dear,’ she explained, fighting back tears. ‘I miss them a lot.’
Perhaps she’s also exhausted?
Sitting backstage in hair and makeup at New York Fashion Week, Vivian was preparing for her fourth and final runway show over four days.
It’s her debut as a runway model, and, she says, she has barely slept.
The 21-year-old has emerged as one of the most in-demand models of the week – walking for brands like Prabal Gurung and Dauphinette and the designer Chris Habana in a show sponsored by Pornhub.
Modeling, Vivian told me, is something of a newly discovered passion.
Vivian walked the runway for Chris Habana’s runway show ‘POP,’ sponsored by Pornhub, on Monday
Vivian (pictured in May 2025 at RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 10 Red carpet & Premiere Party in New York City) told me that she was feeling ‘homesick’ while away from Los Angeles
Until recently, most only knew her as the estranged daughter of the Tesla mogul, who came out as a transgender woman in 2020 and became a vocal advocate for trans rights.
It comes with baggage, Vivian admitted. She receives ‘creepy’ and even menacing messages online. But she blew off any concerns of imminent danger: ‘Everyone’s gotten death threats. It’s 2025, so, like, whatever.’
Now, she appears to be blending her two pursuits – modeling and activism – walking in an Alexis Bittar show titled ‘Miss USA 1991’ that featured an all-trans cast of models. Each wore a sash representing a state accused of rolling back trans rights.
‘I would like Vivian Wilson to be known as…’ she told me, trailing off in thought. ‘Pink News called me a trans icon, so that’s a start,’ she said, before re-thinking it. ‘That sounded so conceited.’
Her reputation certainly appears to proceed her.
Backstage on Monday night, gushing admirers pass by, grabbing her arm and professing their love. On the catwalk, she received raucous applause and cheers as she inched down the runway in a constrictive, chain-link dress and white stilettos.
So, what does Vivian think about the raging debate gripping the country – over free speech, transgender rights and gun violence – following the assassination of conservative, anti-trans activist, Charlie Kirk?
On Monday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox confirmed that Kirk’s alleged killer, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was in a romantic relationship with his roommate, Lance Twiggs, who is transgender.
‘[It] is something I am too f***ing tired to talk about coherently,’ Vivian told me.
Even though, as I pointed out, she frequently posts about these issues to her millions of followers on social media?
Now, she appears to be blending her two pursuits – modeling and activism – walking in an Alexis Bittar show titled ‘Miss USA 1991’ that featured an all-trans cast of models
Backstage on Monday night, gushing admirers pass by, grabbing her arm and professing their love. On the catwalk, she received raucous applause and cheers as she inched down the runway in a constrictive, chain-link dress and white stilettos
After a transgender gunman — who reportedly wrote in a journal that she was ‘tired of being trans’ — killed two children and injured more than a dozen people at a Minneapolis Catholic School in August, the Trump Justice Department reportedly considered new gun control measures targeting transgender people.
That elicited a response from Vivian, just last week. On Threads, she called the idea ‘discriminatory’ and a way ‘to normalize further anti-trans legislation.’
‘Trans people are not mass murderers,’ Vivian told me, ‘It’s a ridiculous… How do I f***ing phrase this?’
She takes a moment to consider her words before continuing.
‘Trans people have been vilified by the media – especially conservative media – for a while and this is just naturally the next step of that to unfairly label all trans people as inherently violent or inherently mass shooters, which is f***ing crazy,’ she continued.
‘I am a runway model – I am not going to shoot anyone with a gun, like, give me a f***ing break.’
She added: ‘There are going to be real world consequences with this association that people are creating between trans people and shooters.
‘As far as I’m aware, the person who shot Charlie Kirk was not trans, so I don’t understand how one plus one is equaling three.’
Anyway, said Vivian, the question was a ‘weird’ one to ask her while backstage at a fashion show.
I caught up with her immediately after walking off the runway – she had already slipped off her high heels.
When asked what’s next for her, she seemed to prioritize some much-needed rest.
‘The first thing I’m going to do is sleep, go hang out with my friends, play [the League of Legends videogame], and then we’re going to get back to it.’
‘I don’t know what that means,’ she concluded, ‘but we’re getting back to it.’
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