Tragic Details About Elon Musk's Kids

While Elon Musk is the richest person in the world, thanks to his ownership of companies like SpaceX, Tesla, and X, formerly known as Twitter, his responsibilities extend beyond his shareholders and investors. He has an ever-growing family, having fathered at least 12 kids with at least three women. And he has some interesting ideas about parenthood, as the mothers of Musk's children can no doubt attest. "Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far," he wrote on his social media platform in 2022. 

He's apparently serious about it, too. In 2024, The New York Times reported that Musk had been offering his, shall we say, genetic material to people he's not even involved with. Citing witnesses to the event, the Times reported, "At a dinner party held at the home of a well-known Silicon Valley executive last year, Mr. Musk offered to provide his sperm to a married couple he had met socially only a handful of times."

Even as Musk tries to save the world by fathering as many kids as he can, the children that Musk already has have gone through some tragic times. There's been loss and there's been danger, and the kids have been exposed to arguments and custody battles.

Elon Musk's very first experience as a father was marked by tragedy. Elon and his first wife Justine Musk, who incidentally initially blew him off on their very first date, welcomed a boy named Nevada back in 2002. Twenty years later, when discussing whether he was planning to restore the banned X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Elon opened up about his painful experience.

Jones famously labeled the deaths of many children in the Sandy Hook shooting a "hoax," leading to criticism from all sides of the political spectrum. Although Elon ultimately reinstated Jones' account on the social media platform, he told his followers at the time that he wasn't inclined to show Jones any leniency. "My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat," he wrote. "I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame."

The Tesla CEO's ex-wife had a lot to say about his revelation. On her own X account, Justine revealed that their son died as a result of sudden infant death syndrome. She continued, writing, "Not that it matters to anyone except me, because it is one of the most sacred and defining moments of my life, but I was the one who was holding him." After going back and forth with people in her replies, she added, "The details are just really important to me."

Elon Musk is an outspoken opponent of what he calls "the woke mind virus." In an interview with right-wing provocateur Jordan Peterson for DailyWire, Musk revealed that his strained relationship with his daughter Vivian Wilson was the reason behind his anti-diversity crusade. Vivian is transgender, leading Musk to make repeatedly-insulting comments about her gender identity. "I lost my son, essentially," he said (via USA Today). "They call it 'deadnaming' for a reason. The reason they call it 'deadnaming' is because your son is dead. ... I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that."

Wilson is not, in fact, dead, and she has responded several times to her father's offensive way of speaking about her as though she doesn't exist anymore. In an interview with NBC News, she recalled dealing with homophobic abuse from Musk. "He was cold. He's very quick to anger. He is uncaring and narcissistic," she said, describing a road trip where she was repeatedly berated for speaking with too high of a voice. She also revealed that she and Musk had not been in touch for years. "I would like to emphasize one thing: I am an adult. I am 20 years old. I am not a child. My life should be defined by my own choices," she said.

In her court petition to change her name, Wilson wrote, "I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form."

Elon Musk has three children with Grimes, an alt-pop musician known for her outré fashion and love of technology. Grimes and Musk originally named their first son "X Æ A-12," supposedly pronounced "X Ash A Twelve." Within days, however, the "Oblivion" singer revealed on Instagram that she and Musk were legally required to pick a different name, as California does not allow numerals on birth certificates (via Today). Instead, their child would now be called X Æ A-Xii (aka X).

The name of Musk and Grimes' second child, a girl born via surrogate, was revealed in a profile of Grimes for Vanity Fair in 2022. "Her full name is Exa Dark Sideræl Musk," Grimes revealed. She is more commonly known as Y. The parents' third child wasn't revealed until 2023, when biographer Walter Isaacson wrote about the child in his book "Elon Musk." Isaacson described the child's birth over Father's Day weekend, explaining that Grimes and Musk had again used a surrogate to welcome their son, whom they named Techno Mechanicus, nicknamed Tau. "Tau is so amazing. He came out with eyes that could just see so deeply into your soul. ... He looks like a little Spock," Grimes is quoted as saying, referring to the "Star Trek" character. "He's definitely a Vulcan," she added.

The fact that Musk and Grimes' children have such unusual names drew mockery from the internet, which the kids will undoubtedly see when they are older. On Tumblr, one user wrote, "Can you imagine being an adult nepo baby at a company your rich dad invested in and having to walk into the boardroom first day like, Hi everyone. My name is Techno Mechanicus."

In 2024, Grimes' mother Sandy Garossino posted a thread on X begging for Elon Musk's mercy. Evidently, Musk had taken control of the three passports belonging to the children he shares with Grimes, and he was reportedly preventing his kids from traveling to see a dying relative. "As you know, my 93 year old mother is now at end-of-life palliative care. She yearns to see and hold Claire's children one last time. Especially the youngest, whom she has not yet met," Garossino wrote (via People). "I am alarmed to learn that the children cannot come as you are withholding them and their needed passport documents from Claire."

Furthermore, Garossino accused Musk of traveling with the children without the knowledge and consent of their mother. "It was even more troubling to see you and X on television at the Olympics in Paris yesterday, after your DC trip earlier in the week. Where are the other children, and with whom? They are scheduled to be with their mother. They were expected here in Canada," she wrote.

Though the situation made headlines, Garossino's posts were ultimately removed from Musk's social media platform. It's unclear exactly how the incident resolved itself, but here's hoping the children were able to see their great-grandmother before her death.

In 2024, Elon Musk spent millions on Donald Trump's campaign. Additionally, he began advocating for the then-former president to return to the Oval Office, donating time in addition to money in order to secure the re-election of the man who once wrote of him on Truth Social (via Reuters), "I could have said, 'drop to your knees and beg,' and he would have done it."

As he campaigned with Trump, Musk brought his son X to numerous public events. After Trump won the election, Elon brought his son to celebrate at the then-president elect's Mar-a-lago estate on New Year's Eve. After videos of the child went viral online, his mother Grimes took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share how she felt about her son being filmed and photographed at public events. "I believe fame is something that should be consented to as an adult. ... I know his dad wants to bring him out and can't control people filming, I'd just like to make the situation slightly safer for his brain development in any small ways I can."

Over the years, several commentators and involved parties have raised concerns about Elon Musk's ability to keep his son X Æ A-Xii safe. In his biography "Elon Musk," writer Walter Isaacson wrote that he'd witnessed a concerning incident involving X. Elon had his at a construction site past 10 p.m., and the boy was left to explore on his own. "As he poked around amid the wires and cables, Musk glanced at him occasionally, but refrained from intervening," Isaacson wrote. "Finally, after X started to climb on a moving spotlight, Musk walked over and picked him up."

Grimes has expressed her own concerns about what happens to her child when he's with his father. "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," she told Vanity Fair in 2022.

Speaking with Wired, she related a story about X becoming traumatized by a frightening event at his father's SpaceX company. "His obsession with space is bordering on, 'Is this healthy?'" she mused. "When X saw Starship blow up, he had, like, a three-day PTSD meltdown. Every hour, he was waking up and going, 'Starship ...' and I had to rub his back."

Elon Musk and Grimes have been involved in several high-profile incidents involving their differing perspectives on how to raise their children. Their on-again, off-again relationship seems to have devolved into a messy custody battle — some of which is public only because Grimes has gotten the word out on X, the social media platform that Musk owns.

After the news broke in 2023 that Musk had fathered more children with one of his company executives, Shivon Zilis, Grimes took to X to ask for help. She tweeted at "Musk" biographer Walter Isaacson, writing, "Tell Shivon to unblock me and tell Elon to let me see my son or plz respond to my lawyer. I have never even been allowed to see a photo of these children until this moment, despite the situation utterly ripping my family apart" (via Yahoo).

In late November 2024, Grimes went into more detail on X, about her custody battle with Musk. "Spent a year locked in battle in a state with terrible mothers rights having my instagram posts and modeling used as reasons I shouldn't have my kids ... all the while I didn't see one of my babies for 5 months," she wrote. "And this is only what can be said publicly, since most of my experience these last years should remain behind closed doors."