Elon Musk recently revealed that he and Neuralink Corp.'s director of special projects, Shivon Zilis, quietly welcomed a baby earlier this year. This makes his 12th child, and the couple's third child together. The 52-year-old Tesla founder confirmed the news in a statement. "As for 'secretly fathered,' that is also false," he said. "All our friends and family know. Failure to issue a press release, which would be bizarre, does not mean 'secret.'" The sex and name of the youngest child haven't been revealed.
Elon and Shivon welcomed twins Strider and Azure in November 2021. They were born one month before he and singer Grimes had Exa Dark Sideræl via surrogate. Shivon is an executive at the neurotechnology company cofounded and owned by the businessman.
"I’m just a fool for love. I am often a fool, but especially for love," Elon said in Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography, Elon Musk. Shivon also spoke about having kids with Elon, saying that they weren't in a romantic relationship at the time and that love had nothing to do with it.
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"He really wants smart people to have kids, so he encouraged me to do this," the 38-year-old explained. "I can’t possibly think of genes I would prefer for my children." In a 2022 interview, Elon stated that he wants "as many [kids] as I am able to spend time with and be a good father."
The Tesla founder and his partners have always kept pretty quiet about their children. In 2023, Grimes shared a post on X (formerly Twitter), asking for privacy for her and Elon's three children. She also addressed headlines about her co-parenting relationship with her ex-partner and Shivon.
"Hey, I wud prefer to not breathe any more life into this current press cycle but I want to de-escalate the narrative atm," she said. "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 excited to become friends and have the kids grow up together."
"Women are so often pitted against each other. Speaking with Shivon, it's very evident she's an amazing human and we both just want what's best for our kids," she continued. "I wish I could show u how cute little Techno is but my priority rn is keeping my babies out of the public eye, Plz respect that at this time ."
"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," Shivon responded. "So glad we had such a wonderful talk, was insanely overdue. You’re a total [expletive] and I respect you very much as well. I can’t wait for kiddo play date and congrats on baby Tau as well!"
Elon also shares twins Griffin and Vivian and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian, with his ex-wife Justine Musk. Their eldest child, Nevada, died at 10 weeks of sudden infant death syndrome.
