There’s a stereotype—and some evolutionary psychology research—that suggests that heterosexual women are more attracted to men who drive luxury cars, wear expensive clothes, and generally seem like they have money. But as the number of billionaires grows, and as those billionaires hoard power in the U.S. government, there’s other research that bears some scrutiny. A series of seven studies revealed that wealthy people are more prone to deception, greed, narcissism, and other seemingly undesirable traits.
Elon Musk has 14 children—and plenty of detractors who are amazed that he could have had sex that many times, or at all. X users have roasted Musk’s Grok-generated AI video of a woman expressing her love, calling it the “most divorced post of all time.” Unsubstantiated rumors and jokes about his sex life abound. And, courts cannot find enough jurors who don’t hate the SpaceX CEO to offer him a fair trial. As his net worth has increased in recent years, Musk’s social capital has plummeted, and so has his desirability. So, it’s not unreasonable to assume that his ketamine-coded, billionaire behaviors may have made it harder to get laid.
As that research suggests, it is not just Musk. Ultra-wealthy individuals have faced rapidly declining reputations in recent years, adding to the longstanding discourse about whether “ethical” billionaires can exist. As they amass more money and power, the public views billionaires as sweaty psychos Scrooge McDucking their way into evil amounts of cash. The collective ick emerging raises a question that wealthy men might prioritize over ethical perceptions: Have billionaires become categorically unfuckable?
According to clinical psychologist Michael Wetter, “Wealth does not inherently cause unethical behavior.” Instead, extreme wealth can foster psychological and social conditions that insulate select individuals from consequences and amplify such attributes. “Reduced exposure to corrective feedback, diminished reliance on reciprocal social relationships, and environments that reward dominance and risk taking can subtly reinforce entitlement based thinking.”
Beyond billionaires’ interpersonal behaviors, there’s also the big picture to think about. Together, the U.S.’s billionaires were worth about $5.7 trillion as of 2025, but had only pledged or donated a small fraction of that money in the last decade, according to Fortune. Late last year, singer Billie Eilish called on billionaires to give away their money, speaking to a crowd where Mark Zuckerberg was in attendance. The Meta founder’s team told the press that Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, had pledged to give away 99% of their Meta shares over their lifetime, highlighting that the couple has donated $7 billion in the last decade. But $7 billion is only about 3% of his total $208 billion net worth.
In a recent interview with the American Psychological Association, Paul Piff, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine, who has co-authored multiple studies on the topic, noted that in interpersonal interactions, wealthier people are “actually a little less generous, a little less compassionate,” he said. Wealthier individuals were more likely to endorse unethical actions, but to “also engage in small acts of cheating and normative violations to prioritize their own welfare above the welfare of other people.”
Though cultural repulsion around billionaires has been mounting, physically, these men are using their resources to overcompensate with expensive procedures. Tech bros are getting face lifts, and other looksmaxxing trends like jaw surgery are common in the industry as well. There has been speculation that Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel have had Botox and filler, and Musk has faced rumors about a hair transplant and jawline contouring. Zuckerberg and Bezos have gotten noticeably more jacked, sparking steroid speculation, even from supporters like podcaster Joe Rogan.
But their peacocking is probably not for us plebes. Another study analyzed the partners of the extremely wealthy using the Forbes World’s Billionaires list. Economist Ria Wilken found that 95% of the spouses of billionaires were upper class themselves, defined as having either substantial economic or cultural capital. It is possible that the more unappealing characteristics of the ultra-rich, such as dressing down their staff or cutting people off in traffic, would be more palatable for peers in their social circle. That said, this preference for like-minded people is not exclusive to the upper class. “Every social group has its own standards for what is considered eccentric versus problematic,” Wetter explains. For instance, in ultra-wealthy environments, controlling tendencies, competitiveness, and emotional detachment could be interpreted as assets, whereas outside that circle, “the same traits may be perceived as cold, self-absorbed, or inaccessible.”
To be fair, homogamy, or romantic relationships between those of similar economic and educational background, is relatively universal regardless of class. At the same time, insular mating habits among the upper class can be another way to hoard resources. “Because of concerns with preserving family wealth and power, the tendency toward homogamy is typically most pronounced among the upper class,” Rosemary Hopcroft, a sociologist and professor Emerita at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, explains. As a result, “billionaires and other financial and social elites are likely less interested in the middle class than the other way round.”
Judging by the constant jokes at their behest, billionaires do seem to have become unfuckable, but only for those of us without a minimum seven figures in our bank accounts—and perhaps they always were unfuckable for us. If the reputation of the Elon Musks of the world has shifted to a place where extreme wealth is no longer upheld as a marker of competence, success, and power, they still might not care if they are sexually viable to the masses. The ultra-rich remain unfuckable outside of their social circle, mostly because they do not want to risk a horny redistribution of wealth. The difference is that now, the feelings of disinterest are mutual.