After more than a year of dating Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson, Donald Trump Jr. is still having trouble negotiating his girlfriend’s admission into the upper echelons of his father’s MAGA world, according to a lengthy report by the Daily Mail.
With her honey-blonde hair and membership to Palm Beach high society, Anderson fits the image of an ideal political partner, but some of Trump Jr.’s family and friends still feel wary about her, and there are several reasons why, according to the Daily Mail.
One is that the 38-year-old model and influencer reportedly set her sights set on another high-profile Donald Trump ally — who is much, much richer than Trump Jr. — before she started her romance with the president’s oldest son.
“She was going for Elon Musk,” a friend of Anderson told the Daily Mail about Anderson’s reported interest in the world’s richest person. The friend asked to remain anonymous out of fear of backlash from Trump World.
PALM BEACH, FLORIDA – MARCH 15: (L-R) Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson attend amfAR Palm Beach Gala on March 15, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Mireya Acierto/Getty Images for amfAR)
The friend also made a bombshell claim about Anderson: “She told me she wanted to have one of Elon’s babies and she thought going after Don Jr would help her get close to Elon.”
The friend said: “She told several of us this was her ultimate goal.”
The Daily Mail reported that Anderson did not respond to the publication’s request for comment about this explosive claim. A Trump Organization spokesman also did not directly address the Musk issue “in a series of expletive-filled messages.”
In recent years, Musk has been the subject of multiple reports about his desire to increase the world’s population. As Musk has publicly warned about global population collapse leading to the end of humanity, he has become the father of at least 14 of his own with four women, according to Forbes. The New York Times reported in 2024 that Musk would love to have all his children and their mothers live together in a compound he has been building outside Austin, Texas, near the headquarters of his electric car company Tesla. A proponent of in vitro fertilization, Musk also has offered his own sperm to friends and acquaintances, the New York Times also reported.
The Daily Mail report doesn’t say whether Anderson ever told the SpaceX founder about her reported desire to have a baby with him. But nothing apparently ever happened between her and Musk, and Trump Jr., 47, has told friends of his intention to marry her.
Anderson and Trump Jr., reportedly began dating in the summer of 2024, while Trump Jr. was still officially engaged to Kimberly Guilfoyle, 56, a top fundraiser for Trump’s presidential campaign and a former Fox News host. Indeed, Trump Jr.’s relationship with Anderson, who was born into one of Palm Beach’s old-money banking families, became an “open secret” in Palm Beach and the subject of tabloid gossip that summer, according to the Daily Mail.
Trump Jr. and Anderson held off going public about the romance until after his father was elected president for a second time in November 2024. After Trump won the election, he announced he had nominated Guilfoyle, the ex-wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, to be his ambassador to Greece. Guilfoyle’s nomination was seen by some political observers as a way that Trump could reward her for her political loyalty, while nudging her out of his “immediate sphere” and sending her off to Europe so that his son could openly pursue his new relationship with Anderson.
It appeared that Anderson began to gain a place in Trump World when she was invited to be a guest at Trump’s January 2025 inauguration in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, though she kept a low profile and didn’t sit with the Trump family. Since then, she has made some appearances at high-profile events, accompanying the president and family members on a golfing trip to Scotland in July and attending a Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House last month.
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 14: Donald Trump Jr. (R) sits with his girlfriend Bettina Anderson prior to a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House on October 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Today marks the National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk who was shot and killed on September 10th at Utah Valley University. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Trump Jr. and Anderson also live together for the most part, spending much of their time at his new ranch in Central Florida or at her West Palm Beach townhouse, the Daily Mail reported. However, neighbors also told the Daily Mail that Trump Jr. still makes regular visits to the Jupiter, Florida home he still co-owns with Guilfoyle.
Another reason that Trump Jr.’s friends and family were initially wary about Anderson is because she was seen as a shallower influencer and “social climber,” despite her Ivy League education from Columbia University, the Daily Mail reported last year. Family sources also told Mediate that Anderson was “not MAGA enough” and that Trump did not “approve of his son’s association” with her because of her habit of partying and dating wealthy men.
Members of Palm Beach’s money set recently told the Daily Mail that Anderson used to be seen in the company of older, extremely rich men. That includes multi-millionaire real estate mogul Joel Pashcow, 82, whom Anderson reportedly knows from a non-profit board they both sat on. She regularly accompanied him to black-tie galas in Palm Beach.
However, Paschow’s name recently popped up in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal when it was revealed he had contributed salacious drawings to a 50th birthday book for the convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges. Paschow’s $30 million home also has been the subject of a Palm Beach police investigation after members of his family reported that several items were missing. Somehow, Anderson’s friends may have been involved in the incident, but not Anderson herself, the Daily Mail reported.
“There are several suspects involved, none being Bettina Anderson,” Palm Beach police chief Nicholas Caristo told the Daily Mail.
