Elon Musk Has Been Telling Grimes He Wants to Leave for Mars 'Since Before She Was Pregnant'

Elon Musk remains committed to personally traveling to Mars within his lifetime — and says he's been open about that with Grimes for some time now.

In the musician's new cover story with Vanity Fair — where she revealed that in December the pair welcomed their second child, daughter Exa Dark Sideræl, via surrogate — Musk and Grimes briefly discussed living on Mars in the perhaps not-so-distant future.

Speaking about her song "Player of Games," which was released last year shortly after Musk said they were "semi-separated," Grimes revealed that the inspiration came from a conversation they had while she was pregnant with their son X Æ A-12, whom they welcomed in 2020.

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During the chat, Grimes recalled Musk — the world's richest man — mentioning that he wanted to leave for Mars in 10 years.

"I was like, 'Uhhh….' " she recalled during an interview for the profile. "I said, 'Could we make it 20?' "

Musk, who has said that he believes his company SpaceX will be able to send humans to Mars as soon as 2026, claimed that his remark "wasn't new information."

"I've been saying since before she was pregnant that I was going to Mars," he told Vanity Fair.

In response, Grimes, 33, admitted that while she knew he was serious about going, she didn't know he intended on "going, like, this soon."

Although the trip is still theoretical at this point, as SpaceX has yet to attempt an orbital launch of their cutting-edge Starship rocket, as it stands right now, Musk, 50, would likely leave before her. "He'll probably go and then I'll come later," she said at another point.

SpaceX did not immediately return PEOPLE's request for comment.

Even though Grimes doesn't seem keen on rushing any potential move to Mars, she mentioned during the profile that she does "believe in the mission."

"I will probably go when I'm, like, 65 or so," she shared, going on to note that life on the Red Planet won't be easy.

"There's not gonna be any makeup or Postmates," she said. "It's definitely gonna suck. And definitely early death for sure."

After the cover story was published, Grimes took to Twitter to share that their relationship status had changed. "Me and E have broken up *again* since the writing of this article," she wrote. "But he's my best friend and the love of my life, and my life and art are forever dedicated to The Mission now."

RELATED VIDEO: Elon Musk and Grimes Split After 3 Years: 'We Are Semi-Separated but Still Love Each Other'

Musk initially hoped that SpaceX would be able to send people to Mars by 2024, but later revised the goal to a later date.

Although NASA previously said that they believed crewed missions to Mars could become reality "as early as the 2030s," Musk has said as recently as last year that he believes the trip may be possible on a slightly faster timeline.

"Best case is about five years, worst case 10 years," he said during a December 2021 episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast.

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Regardless of when the trip becomes feasible, Musk has been candid about how difficult it will be.

During an interview last year, the tech mogul warned that "a bunch of people will probably die" in the beginning stages of Mars exploration as his company works out the kinks of the journey.

"Going to Mars reads like that ad book for [explorer Ernest] Shackleton going to the Antarctic," Musk told Peter Diamandis in the lengthy sit-down. "It's dangerous, it's uncomfortable, it's a long journey. You might not come back alive. But it's a glorious adventure, and it'll be an amazing experience."

As for his own willingness to volunteer, Musk previously spoke about the possibility of moving to Mars back in 2018.

During an interview with Axios on HBO, Musk said he thought he had a "70 percent chance" of achieving his plan, per The Washington Post.

Mentioning that there would be no guarantee of being able to return back to Earth after making the trip, or even surviving, the billionaire said he believed the journey was worth the risk.

​​"You know there's lots of people who climb mountains. You know why do they climb mountains? People die on Mount Everest all the time," he said, per the newspaper. "They like doing it for the challenge."