Who is Nicole Shanahan? Ex-wife of Google founder billionaire and rumored lover of Elon Musk could be Robert F. Kennedy Jr's running partner in presidential election

Robert F. Kennedy Jr may have selected lawyer and tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his vice-presidential running mate, Mediate reported last week. 

The outlet reported on Friday that websites featuring both RFK and Shanahan's names had been registered by the campaign’s senior advisor Link Lipsitz. 

Shanahan, 38, was first linked to RFK after it was reported that she donated $4 million to a Super PAC that paid for the controversial candidate's Super Bowl advert that used retro footage of his uncle JFK's 1960 campaign. 

The former tech lawyer previously donated the maximum $6,600 to Kennedy in 2022, telling the New York Times she agrees with him on issues such as vaccines and environmental health. 

The 38-year-old was once wed to billionaire Google founder Sergey Brin but the marriage ended in 2022 after she reportedly had an affair with Elon Musk, though both have denied the allegations. 

Lawyer and tech entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan grew up poor - rising to become a tech lawyer

The 38-year-old was once married to Google founder Sergey Brin but the marriage ended in 2022

Robert F. Kennedy may have selected Shanahan as his vice-presidential running mate, according to reports 

Shanahan has previously made large sums to Democratic candidates, donating $25,000 to the Biden Victory Fund for his 2020 campaign. 

She grew up in poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area where she lived off food stamps and tried to help her two unemployed parents financially.

In an interview with Modern Luxury Magazine, Shanahan told of the struggles she faced as a child and how they led her to become an entrepreneur in her own right.

'As a kid, I really had to figure out how the world works on my own,' she said, explaining how her father was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia when she was young, and her mother was a Chinese immigrant trying to make it in America.

'I had two unemployed parents for the majority of my childhood, so not only was there no money, there was almost no parental guidance,' she explained.

 'As you can imagine with a mentally ill father, there was a lot of chaos and fear.'

So, she said, she learned to make it on her own, bussing tables at the age of 12 and using the newfound Internet to help her succeed and apply for college and jobs.

'I learned how to compete in really creative ways by making broken objects perform at levels beyond their perceived capacity.'

Shanahan founded ClearAccessIP in 2013, a law firm that utilizes AI to work on patent portfolios for clients

She later founded Bia-Echo Foundation, a philanthropy foundation focusing on 'reproductive longevity & equality, criminal justice reform and a healthy & livable planet'

Shanahan was married to a finance executive before she met and married Brin (right) - the eighth richest man in the world - at a yoga retreat in 2015.

Shanahan reportedly had an affair with Elon Musk , though both have denied the allegations

By 2003, she started attending the University of Puget Sound, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and Mandarin Chinese, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She then went on to study global intellectual property trade and Chinese law at the National University of Singapore in 2013, before starting law at Santa Clara University.

Shanahan founded ClearAccessIP in 2013, a law firm that utilizes AI to work on patent portfolios for clients.

However, she left the company in 2020, founding Bia-Echo Foundation, a philanthropy foundation focusing on 'reproductive longevity & equality, criminal justice reform and a healthy & livable planet' according to its website. 

Shanahan was married to a finance executive before she met and married Brin - the eighth richest man in the world - at a yoga retreat in 2015.

They were then married at a low-key wedding ceremony on November 7, 2018, according to the Economic Times. 

They reportedly lived in a $13.5 million Malibu mansion, which was once owned by the singer Pink. 

They later had a daughter after suffering years of fertility issues, which Shanahan has spoken publicly about.

Brin and Shanahan reportedly lived in a a $13.5 million Malibu mansion (pictured)

The mansion was once owned by the singer Pink

Shanahan has most recently been romantically linked to another wealthy tech founder Jacob Strumwasser, the vice president of Lightning Labs

'Like many women who are not quite ready to start a family in their early 30s, I decided, or so I thought at the time, to take matters into my own hands and freeze embryos,' she told Page Six in 2019. 

'However, after three failed attempts at embryo-making and three dozen visits to in vitro fertilization clinics around the Bay Area, I learned that I was not nearly as unshakable as I thought I was.'

But by January 2022 Brin had filed for divorce from his wife of four years after allegedly finding out about her dalliance with Musk.

He cited 'irreconcilable differences' in divorce papers but asked for the docket to be sealed to protect his young daughter. 

She has most recently been romantically linked to another wealthy tech founder Jacob Strumwasser, the vice president of Lightning Labs.