When Vivian Jenna Wilson and gender-and-size-inclusive intimates label tomboyx first connected, it was a match made in social media heaven. Wilson, the 21-year-old social media dynamo and estranged trans daughter of Elon Musk, who recently came out swinging against her father in Teen Vogue, had expressed interest in modeling, and the queer and woman-founded brand was preparing to launch an expansion of its trans-focused product line. Even though Wilson and the brand can’t agree on the exact details of how their love story began—according to tomboyx, they reached out to Wilson on Instagram for a collaboration (“‘Oh hello,’ she said. Then, ‘Werk,’” they wrote in an email to Vanity Fair), while Wilson recalled, “I think it was Gmail, initially”—the end result is Wilson’s first time as an underwear model, and photos of herself she loves.
In a recent interview with VF, Wilson admitted that she was “terrified” to strip down for the campaign shot by photographer Katia Temkin, but quickly got comfortable thanks to banter with the glam team assembled for the shoot: makeup artist Laurel Charleston, hair stylist Alyx Liu, and wardrobe stylist Dialló Mítch—all of them trans women. “It was just nice to have a kind of shared experience with everyone,” Wilson recalled. Here, Wilson discusses her thoughts on on the shoot, her career ambitions, and the bizarre discovery that her father’s AI apparently yearns to be adopted by her.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Let’s talk about how this campaign came about. Were you a fan of the brand before this?
They reached out to me, and I was interested in working with queer brands. I tried out some of their products, and I really like them, and I still use a bunch. I got some free products, which is very nice, and I use them basically every day, it’s working out really well. I’m really glad that I found them because they’re so much better than what I was using. I don’t want to say the brands that I was using before, because I don’t want to shade them.
Did you have any hesitation about doing an underwear campaign?
I was terrified. Before this, I was very much the person who, like, didn’t show any skin, ever, at all before this. Even in my day to day, like going to the beach with friends, I would, like, not wear a swimsuit. So it was very, very nerve wracking, but I wanted to do [the shoot] because I wanted to have more confidence in my own body. I do feel confident in my own body, but I wanted to, like, prove that confidence to myself, if that makes any sense. But also I was really scared, but what got me together on the day was the hairstylist and makeup artist, who are two amazing and hyper-talented trans women. We were just joking around and cutting it up before the [shoot] thing. I was like, “oh, okay, it’s going to be fine.”
[Despite] all of the stress I had, it was a really, really fun environment, and everyone was so fun. I had a great time. Everyone did such a good job. The photographer is amazing, the stylist was so good. I’m really happy with how it turned out.
The photos are so great. You mentioned that the glam team were all trans women. Was that a surprise to you? How did that feel?
I found out because we were, like, talking about trans stuff, and I was like, “Oh, we’re all trans! Love that!” Did I know that beforehand? Girl, I have the memory of a fucking goldfish, but no, I found out day-of, and it was really cool. It was just nice to have a kind of shared experience with everyone and also community, almost, on set. We were there for like, eight hours and we were, by the end of it, all just joking around. I feel like we got close in those eight hours. It was just very nice.
You go to school in Japan, right? Are you back there now?
No, I was studying there. I’m back in Los Angeles for a bit.
For the summer? What are your plans?
Well, I’m spending my summer career oriented, just chasing my ambitions. Let’s just go with that.
You recently posted a shot from your Wildfang campaign where you got to see your photo in a storefront window. What was it like seeing your tomboyx photos the first time?
I saw them on set. When you’re on set, you can see the photo that was just taken, and I was just seeing, like, glimpses of the photos and thinking, “Oh, these are really good. I am actually good at my job.” It was very cool. It was a relieving feeling, I saw the photos and was like, “Oh shit, these are really good.” And then it’s kind of like, “Oh, I got this.”
That’s such an empowering feeling. How do you choose what brands you work with? Do you make it a point to associate with brands with a strong social message, or do you hope to explore bigger brands, try runway modeling—what direction would you like to go?
I would love to do runway. I think that would be great. But I’m really enjoying photography modeling, I think it’s really fun and interesting. As for companies that I choose to work with, my one thing when I was starting this whole modeling path of my life, I wanted to work with companies that have what I call ethical business practices, like no child labor, that’s the bare minimum. I wanted to work with companies that have ethical business practices and high standards and as a bonus, really are aligned with kind of who I am, in terms of a queer and trans women. It’s worked out really well. I’m looking forward to continuing this path, potentially. Other people, reach out to my agent, heyyyy!
You’re a delight to follow on social media. Have you ever deleted a post?
Oh, like, literally all the time. All the time. I would say a third of my videos I delete, like, five minutes after making them, like, “this actually wasn’t funny.” [I delete] a lot, probably more than I should. I think I kind of overcompensate with how many videos I delete.
When I’m making the video, I’m like, “This is fucking hilarious.” But then I watch it and I’m like, “no, oh no, no, no, no.” And then I’ll delete it. I don’t feel like that’s the right approach to have, but it is the one I personally have. I don’t know if I’m necessarily overly self critical, but it’s a thing I do for fun, right? TikTok is not something that makes me a lot of money—I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that, but I have made very little money from TikTok because the videos I make on TikTok are not monetizable. I just make them because it’s really fun to do.
For the joy and the art.
I would not call my videos art. I would call it me fucking around in front of a phone, and then it gets views. I mean, usually it’s just me fucking around.
I saw on Bluesky recently that someone asked the X AI, Grok, what human it would like to adopt it. Eventually, it gave your name. You quoted Nicki Minaj and emphatically disavowed your Grok-Son, but what would you teach this AI if you were its parent?
What would I teach this AI? I wouldn’t teach it shit. I would put it in the orphanage. I don’t like AI, I was like, I would put the baby up for adoption, sorry!
This was an unplanned child.
This wasn’t an unplanned child, this was a child that I never wanted. The child was thrown at me like a frisbee, and I’m throwing that frisbee right back. I do not want it. No way.
I’ve read you talking about finding out about half-siblings on reddit, which is wild, I cannot imagine that. What Google Alerts do you have set?
The only Google Alert I have is my name. I have one for “Vivian Jenna Wilson” and “Vivian Wilson.” Someone told me, you should get a Google Alert just so you know what’s going on, and I was like okay, and then I forgot about it.
Just checking out that daily digest.
I read the articles sometimes. But like, I live the articles, so, yeah, I’m good. Unless it’s like, “Vivian Wilson is, like, secretly a sadist,” or unless someone, like, accused me of murder. I don’t know. I don’t care. I guess I read the articles sometimes. Pink called me a trans icon, that was cool. I liked that one.
Your estranged father has stepped back from politics and seems to be going for a public image makeover. Do you buy this pivot, or do you think that it’s a desperation move?
Girl…I don’t…[long silence]…mmm… next question.
What’s next for you? You have plenty of irons in the fire, it seems.
I don’t know what’s gonna happen in the fall and past that, but I am taking the summer off to focus on my career ambition, at least.
Can you elaborate? Do you mean modeling?
Modeling, yeah. I have plans and machinations.
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The post Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk’s Estranged Daughter, On Becoming an Underwear Model, Even Though She Was “Terrified” appeared first on Vanity Fair.
