Billionaire businessman Elon Musk is a polarizing figure for many reasons. He is also a father of 11 known children, with many believing there are more. Elon shares three of these kids with his ex-girlfriend Grimes. On September 29, 2023, Grimes filed a “petition to establish parental relationship” in California.
This petition's purpose is to have the court name the legal parents of the children because they are unmarried. The docket is public record, but the case itself is sealed. It does not appear that Elon has responded to the petition yet or that Grimes, a musician, has requested custody or support.
Grimes and Elon first met in 2018 via Twitter. They both made the same nerdy joke. “Elon was researching the idea of joking about Rococo Basilisk, and when he saw Grimes had already joked about it, he reached out to her,” a source told Page Six. “Grimes said this was the first time in three years that anyone understood the joke. They were both poking fun at AI.”
The couple began dating shortly after connecting. They had a three-year, on-again-off-again relationship. In May 2020, Grimes gave birth to their first child, a son named X Æ A-Xii.
More from LittleThings: Elon Musk Casually Announces He And Grimes Are 'Semi-Separated' After 3 Years Together
In December 2021, they privately welcomed a daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl, called Y, via a surrogate. Walter Isaacson’s Elon Musk biography revealed the couple also had a third child. It is unknown when Techno Mechanicus, nicknamed Tau, was born.
In September 2023, Walter shared a tweet with a picture of Elon and his twins Strider and Azure, whom he shares with Shivon Zilis. The twins were born in November 2021.
“Tell Shivon to unblock me and tell Elon to let me see my son or plz respond to my lawyer,” Grimes responded, but has since deleted the comment. “I have never even been allowed to see a photo of these children until this moment, despite the situation utterly ripping my family apart.”
Just days later, it appears that the situation had some forward movement. “I spoke with Shivon at length finally, which was long overdue. This wasn’t her fault, plz don’t be angry at her!” Grimes explained. “We respect each other a lot and we’re excited to become friends and have the kids grow up together.”
Shivon and Elon kept their twins' birth secret for about a year. They were born right after Grimes and Elon broke up. It did not become public knowledge until the following year. Shivon is the director of operations and special projects at Neuralink, a company Elon owns.
Elon has been married three times. His first wife was Justine Wilson, an author, whom he met at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. They share joint custody of five children. Tragically, their first child died of sudden infant death syndrome at 10 weeks old. His second and third marriages were to the same woman, actress Talulah Riley.
