The Tesla founder shares children with Justine Wilson, Grimes, Shivon Zilis, and Ashley St. Clair.
In 2002, Musk’s firstborn son tragically died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at the age of 10 weeks. Later, Justin Wilson, his ex-wife, wrote an essay about the incident in Marie Claire.
“Nevada went down for a nap, placed on his back as always, and stopped breathing,” she stated. “By the time the paramedics resuscitated him, he had been deprived of oxygen for so long that he was brain-dead.”
“Before we decided to remove him from life support, he was in an Orange County hospital for three days,” she added. When he passed away, I embraced him.
Vivian Jenna Wilson and Griffin
Shortly after Nevada’s death, the couple underwent IVF treatment, and Musk’s second eldest child was born. Wilson wrote, “I buried my feelings,” in the same essay about Marie Claire. Elon and I intended to conceive again as soon as possible. I gave birth to twins and then triplets in the following five years.
Vivian and Griffin were, of course, the first twins. Their birth dates are April 15, 2004. Eighteen years later, in April 2022, Vivian filed a court document formally changing her name and gender. “Gender Identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form,” according to People, was one of the explanations she provided in her petition. “You single-handedly disillusioned me with how gullible we are as a species because somehow people keep believing you for reasons that continue to evade me,” Vivian wrote on a thread discussing her relationship with her father.
Regarding their relationship, Musk told the Financial Times, “It’s full-on communism…and a general sentiment that if you’re rich, you’re evil…I get along well with all the other kids, though that could change. Not all of them can be won.
For his part, Griffin has mostly stayed out of the spotlight.
Kai, Saxon, and Damian
Musk and Wilson announced the arrival of their triplets—Kai, Saxon, and Damian—two years after giving birth to twins. In 2006, the three were born. Although neither parent has publicly addressed them, a 2023 biography of Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, did disclose that Damian switched to vegetarianism at the age of 8 in an effort to “decrease [his] carbon footprint.”
In 2008, Musk and Wilson filed for divorce, ending their marriage after the birth of their triplets.
X Æ A-Xii
Originally known as X Æ A-12, X Æ A-Xii was born on May 4, 2020, to Musk and Grimes, his partner at the time. Fans of the couple were immediately perplexed by the name (and how to pronounce it) for obvious reasons.
Musk stated, “So, it’s just X, the letter X, and then the Æ is pronounced Ash,” when he appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience. On Instagram, however, Grimes informed followers that “It’s just X, like the letter X.” Next, A.I. similar to how you said “A” before “I.”
To further complicate things, Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and changed its name to X. As the head of DOGE, the SpaceX founder reportedly took his son to the X offices and then to the White House. In 2023, X Æ A-Xii also went to Miami, Florida, to attend the MMA Global Possible Conference with his father.
X Æ A-Xii, like his father, is passionate about space exploration. “X is very knowledgeable about rockets. “It’s insane,” Grimes once told Wired. “He knows more about rockets than me.” The singer also stated that when SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded in April 2023, the toddler was distraught. “He had like, a three-day PTSD meltdown,” she explained. “Every hour, he was waking up and going, ‘Starship …’ and I had to rub his back.”
Strider and Azure
According to People, Musk and former Tesla employee Shivon Zilis secretly welcomed twins a few months after the arrival of X Æ A-Xii. Strider and Azure were born in Austin, Texas, in November 2021, but their birth was not publicly announced until the following summer. To make matters worse, Grimes’ second child with Musk arrived just a few weeks after Zilis gave birth.
Zilis later defended the father of her kids on his social media platform, X. “No one’s perfect but I’ve never met anyone who goes through more personal pain to fight for an inspiring future for humanity—and has done so tirelessly for decades,” said Zilis. “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion but mine is that there’s no one I respect and admire more.”
According to People, the couple filed a petition in April 2022 to change the children’s names so that they would have their father’s last name and their mother’s last name as part of their middle name. Their names were later revealed in September 2023, in an excerpt from Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk that appeared in Time.
Exa Dark Sideræl
Grimes and Musk welcomed a second child via surrogate mere weeks after Strider and Azure were born. Exa Dark Sideræl was born in December 2021. Her arrival was kept secret until March 2022, when, during an interview with Vanity Fair at Grimes’s home, Exa, who was in another room, began crying. Grimes later explained the meaning behind the name in the same interview. In short: Exa is a supercomputing term; Dark references “the unknown;” Sideræl is “a more elven” spelling of sidereal, a.k.a. “the true time of the universe, star time, deep space time, not our relative earth time.”
“People fear [the unknown] but truly it’s the absence of photons,” Grimes told the publication. “Dark matter is the beautiful mystery of our universe.”
As far as nicknames go? Grimes told X followers, “She’s Y now, or ‘Why?’ or just ‘?’ (But the government won’t recognize that). curiosity, the eternal question, .. and such.” The singer has also characterized her daughter as “a little engineer,” adding, “she likes industrial shipping. She’s very strange.”
Techno Mechanicus
Grimes and Musk secretly welcomed their third child, Techno Mechanicus, also known as Tau, in June 2022. Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk, which was published in September 2023, broke the news of his arrival.
“Tau is absolutely amazing. He emerged with eyes that could see so deeply into your soul and were full of knowledge. He resembles a small Spock. “He’s definitely a Vulcan,” Grimes told the author, as reported in the book.
Following the book’s release, the singer briefly mentioned her son on X. “I wish I could show u how cute little Techno is but my priority rn is keeping my babies out of the public eye,” she posted on Instagram. “Plz respect that at this time.”
Arcadia
On February 28, 2024, Zilis gave birth to her and Musk’s third child, Arcadia.
One year later, Zilis visited X to celebrate her baby’s birthday. “Happy first birthday, dear Arcadia,” she wrote. “Mommy loves you with all her heart.”
Seldon Lycurgus
Around the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025, a fourth child joined the Musk-Zilis family. The couple confirmed the baby’s arrival via X in February of this year, but they did not disclose the baby’s birthdate. “Discussed with Elon, we felt it was better to share directly about our wonderful and incredible son Seldon Lycurgus,” wrote the mother of four. “With a firm, gold heart, built like a juggernaut. I adore him.
Romulus
Sometime in the fall of 2024, conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair gave birth to Musk’s fourteenth child. The author revealed the shocking news on Musk’s own platform, X, and named her son Romulus.
“Five months ago, I welcomed a new baby into the world,” the writer wrote. “The dad is Elon Musk. To safeguard our child’s safety and privacy, I haven’t previously revealed this, but it’s now obvious that the tabloid media plans to do so, no matter how much harm it causes.”
She went on, “I plan to give our child a typical, secure environment in which to grow up. I thus request that the media respect our child’s privacy and abstain from intrusive coverage.”
Relationships between St. Clair and Musk rapidly soured after her post. “I don’t know if the child is mine or not, but I’m not against finding out,” the Tesla founder replied in a tweet of his own. There is no need for a court order. Additionally, he said that he had sent her a huge amount of money, but St. Clair responded that the money had been taken out as a form of financial revenge.
“You sent support for your child that you believed was required, not money for me. In order to keep control and discipline me for disobedience, you withdrew the majority of it,” she wrote. “But in reality, you’re just punishing your son.”
Finally, St. Clair concluded by referring to Musk as a “petulant man-child.” According to a Labcorp report, Musk’s “probability of paternity” was later confirmed by the Wall Street Journal to be 99.9999%. Since then, the mother of two has petitioned the New York Supreme Court for sole custody, on the grounds that Musk “has met [Romulus] only three (3) times and has had no involvement in his care and upbringing.”
