Elon Musk is the father of 12 kids, most recently welcoming his youngest, with Shivon Zillis, in early 2024
Elon Musk is the dad of 12 kids.
The Tesla founder fathered his children with three different women over two decades. His first child was born in 2002 and his most recent baby was born in early 2024.
Musk welcomed his first six kids with his ex-wife, Justine Wilson, between 2002 and 2006. In the years that followed, he welcomed children with singer-songwriter Grimes and Neuralink Corp.’s director Shivon Zilis.
The arrival of Musk’s 12th child was confirmed in June 2024; the SpaceX CEO revealed that he and Zilis welcomed the new baby earlier in the year, but said he didn’t “secretly” father the child.
Over the years, Musk and his partners have requested privacy for their children amid speculation about the unusual arrangement. In September 2023, Grimes posted on X (formerly Twitter) in September 2023 in an attempt to “de-escalate the narrative” after she and the entrepreneur welcomed their third baby together soon after Musk welcomed children with Zilis.
Musk was also in a relationship with Talulah Riley, though the couple never had children together. They married and divorced twice, the first lasting from 2010 to 2012 and the second from 2013 to 2016.
Read on to learn about the women who share kids with Musk.
Musk and his ex-wife, Justine Wilson, wed in 2000 and divorced in 2008. They had six kids together: Nevada Alexander, Vivian Jenna, Griffin, Kai, Saxon and Damian.
The pair welcomed their first baby, Nevada Alexander, in 2002. Sadly, at 10 weeks old, he passed away from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Wilson, a Canadian author, penned an essay for Marie Claire in 2010 about the experience.
“I buried my feelings … coping with Nevada’s death by making my first visit to an IVF clinic less than two months later. Elon and I planned to get pregnant again as swiftly as possible. Within the next five years, I gave birth to twins, then triplets,” she wrote.
Musk and Wilson had twins, Vivian and Griffin, through IVF in 2004. In April 2022, Vivian filed to legally change her name and gender and said she no longer wishes to be related to her father, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
Two years after giving birth to twins, the then-couple welcomed triplets named Kai, Saxon, and Damian in 2006. Wilson revealed in a 2017 TedTalk that they were also conceived via IVF, but she and Musk have not publicly discussed the children themselves.
Wilson grew up in southern Ontario and majored in English literature at Queen’s University, where she met Musk. She published her first novel, BloodAngel, in 2005 and continues to write. Per her Simon and Schuster author page, she’s also an active blogger on LiveJournal under the user name “moschus.”
It is unclear whether Wilson remarried after she and Musk divorced.
Grimes
Musk and Grimes had an on again-off again relationship beginning in 2018. Together, they share three children: X Æ A-Xii, Exa Dark Sideræl and Techno Mechanicus.
Grimes (whose real name is Claire Boucher) is a Canadian musician and record producer who made her public debut with Musk at the 2018 Met Gala. She described her relationship with the billionaire entrepreneur as “very fluid” in an interview for the cover story for Vanity Fair’s April 2022 issue.
The pair welcomed their first child, son, X Æ A-Xii, together in May 2020. Their daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl, was born via surrogate in December 2021. The birth date of their third child, son Techno Mechanicus, hasn’t been made public.
Grimes and Musk have opened up about the unique names of their children, particularly X Æ A-Xii (nicknamed “X”), who was named by the singer. The baby’s name was originally named X Æ A-12, but was later changed to X Æ A-Xii.
In September 2021, Musk revealed that he and Grimes broke up during an interview with The New York Post’s Page Six. “We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms,” he told the publication.
The following month, Grimes revealed on Instagram she was still living with Musk, and said in a Vanity Fair interview that they welcomed a baby girl, Exa Dark Sideræl, via surrogate in December 2021.
When speaking with Wired in an interview for the magazine’s September 2023 issue, Grimes talked about trying to “build family culture” with Musk as they co-parent their kids.
“I really care about having a very good relationship with my kids. I think I understand how to be a good parent to them. Both enforcing discipline and being their friend,” she said. “Who knows, maybe they’ll resent me and reject family culture, but I feel like they will not.”
In September 2023, journalist Walter Isaacson’s biography about Musk revealed the birth of the Tesla founder’s third child with Grimes, Techno Mechanicus (who also goes by “Tau”). That same month, Grimes hinted at some parental drama with Musk on X, then deleted the tweet, apologized to Zilis and wrote, “my priority rn is keeping my babies out of the public eye.”
The since-deleted tweet seemed to indicate that Musk was not letting Grimes see their eldest son, X, and in 2022, Grimes had expressed some concerns over how Musk was involving X in his business, tellingVanity Fair, “Whatever is going on with family stuff, I just feel like kids need to stay out of it, and X is just out there …I mean, I think E is really seeing him as a protégé and bringing him to everything and stuff.”
In October 2023, Grimes and Musk sued each other over parental rights. As of December, the case was still ongoing, with each attempting to establish their position as the primary parent.
In March 2024, Grimes announced her romance with DJ Anyma on Instagram two years after she and Musk called it quits for the third and final time.
Shivon Zilis
In November 2021, it was revealed that Zilis, the project director at his brain implant chip company, and Musk secretly welcomed twins, son Strider and daughter Azure.
The twins were born in Austin, Texas just weeks before he and Grimes welcomed a baby girl via a surrogate, according to court documents published by Insider in July 2021. Musk and Zilis revealed the babies’ names and sexes in September 2023, when they were 16 months old.
In early 2024, the pair welcomed their third child together. The baby, whose name hasn’t yet been made public, marks Musk’s 12th child in total.
Zilis has a private Instagram page, though keeps her X (formerly Twitter) profile public. Her website, which features a 2014-2016 report on the state of Machine Intelligence, hasn’t been updated since she “left the venture world for the startup world.”
In September 2023, Grimes posted to X after tweeting and deleting about her family drama, saying she and Zilis had connected and were now on the same page about the conditions under which they both separately welcomed children with Musk, weeks apart.
Hey, I wud prefer to not breathe any more life into this current press cycle but I want to de-escalate the narrative atm.
I spoke with Shivon at length finally, which was long overdue. This wasn't her fault, plz don't be angry at her! We respect each other a lot and we're…
— 𝖦𝗋𝗂𝗆𝖾𝗌 ⏳ (@Grimezsz) September 10, 2023
Zilis responded on X, “At the end of the day it all ended up for the best! Thank you for taking the time to really connect and understand each other. So glad we had such a wonderful talk, was insanely overdue. You’re a total badass and I respect you very much as well. I can’t wait for kiddo play date and congrats on baby Tau as well!”
