Tesla CEO Elon Musk has welcomed his third child with Neuralink director Shivon Zilis, making him a father of at least 12 children. Musk, 52, has had half of his children in the past five years.
Musk’s children come from three relationships: three with Zilis, three with Canadian pop star Grimes, and five with his ex-wife Justine Wilson.
With Justine Wilson, Musk’s first child, Nevada, was born in 2002 but died at 10 weeks old from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). They subsequently had twins, Griffin and Vivian, in 2004, and triplets, Kai, Saxon, and Damian, in 2006, all conceived through IVF. Vivian, who came out as transgender in 2022, changed her name from Xavier Musk to Vivian Wilson, distancing herself from Musk.
After divorcing Wilson in 2008, Musk married actor Talulah Riley in 2010, divorced in 2012, remarried in 2013, and divorced again in 2016, but they had no children together.
Musk’s relationship with Grimes, whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher, resulted in three children: X Æ A-Xii, born in May 2020, Exa Dark Sideræl, born via surrogate in December 2021, and a third child, a boy named Techno Mechanicus, known as “Tau.” Their son’s name, X Æ A-Xii, was legally altered to comply with California laws, but they call him “X.” The couple split in September 2021 but reunited around the time of their daughter’s birth. Grimes recently filed a court petition to establish parental rights over their children.
In November 2021, Musk and Shivon Zilis had twins, Strider and Azure, reportedly via IVF. They petitioned a Texas court to allow the children to have Musk’s last name and Zilis’s last name as part of their middle name. Earlier this year, they welcomed a third child, whose name and sex have not been disclosed. Musk clarified that while the public recently learned of this child, friends and family were already aware, refuting claims that the child was secretly fathered.