Elon Musk may keep his family life private, but the entrepreneur has given rare insight into his life as a father over the years while raising children with Justine Musk, Grimes and Shivon Zilis.
Elon became a dad in 2002 when he and then-wife Justine welcomed their son Nevada. The newborn died 10 weeks later of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.
The former couple went on to welcome twins Griffin and Vivian in 2004 followed by triplets Kai, Saxon and Damian in 2006.
When Vivian came out as transgender and requested to change her name in April 2022 court documents, Justine tweeted that she felt “very proud” of her child — but Elon has yet to address the moniker switch, which was granted in June.
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The Tesla CEO and Justine, an author, called it quits in 2008 after eight years of marriage. Elon moved on with Talulah Riley and Amber Heard before beginning an on-again, off-again relationship with Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, in 2018.
The singer gave birth to their first child together, son X AE A-XII, in May 2020. Their daughter, Exa, arrived via surrogate in December 2021, with the duo waiting three months to announce her arrival.
Then, news broke in July 2022 that Elon secretly welcomed twins with Zilis, a Neuralink executive, one month before Exa’s birth.
Find out what the SpaceX founder has had to say about his expanding family — as well as working fatherhood, custody and more — below.
What he’s said about his twins with Zilis
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“Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far,” Elon tweeted in July 2022 after news broke of babies No. 9 and 10, seemingly confirming his paternity.
“Mark my words, they are sadly true,” he continued, noting that the “population of Mars is still zero people.”
Elon, who has expressed concerns over population collapse in the past, went on to write, “I hope you have big families and congrats to those who already do!”
What he’s said about working fatherhood
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While explaining to the New York Times in July 2020 why Grimes was taking on most of their childcare, Elon said, “Babies are just eating and pooping machines, you know? Right now there’s not much I can do. Grimes has a much bigger role than me right now.”
He shared his intentions to become more involved “when the kid gets older,” saying, “I think [I’ll end up] just doing what I’ve done with my other kids. If I have a trip for Tesla to China, for example, I’ll bring the kids with me and we’ll go see the Great Wall or we took the bullet train from Beijing to Xian and saw the Terracotta Warriors.”
What he’s said about X’s birth
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“Mom and baby all good,” the South Africa native tweeted from the hospital in May 2020.
Later that same month, Elon told Joe Rogan that having a baby as an older parent was “better” since he “appreciate[d]” the experience more.
What he’s said about X’s name
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Elon clarified during a “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast interview in May 2020 that Grimes chose their son’s unique moniker.
“First of all, my partner is the one that, actually, mostly, came up with the name. She’s great at names,” the businessman said, noting that his “contribution” was the A-XII in honor of “Archangel 12, the precursor to the SR-71, the coolest plane ever.”
What he’s said about Nevada’s death
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Elon reportedly wrote in a May 2018 email to the father of a teen who died in a Tesla crash that there is “nothing worse than losing a child,” adding, “My firstborn son died in my arms. I felt his heartbeat.”
What he’s said about being a present dad
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During the June 2016 Code Conference, Elon gushed that his kids make him “the happiest,” adding, “I always try to reserve time for my kids because I love hanging out with them. I mean, kids are really great.”
He went on to say that he often plays video games with his children or works while “hanging out” in the same room as them.
“A lot of times, kids are kind of in their own world so they don’t want to talk to their dad for hours on end,” Elon explained at the time.
What he’s said about custody of his kids
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“I’m a pretty good dad,” Elon said in “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future,” which was written by Ashlee Vance and published in 2015. “I have the kids for slightly more than half the week and spend a fair bit of time with them. I also take them with me when I go out of town.”
The University of Pennsylvania grad later acknowledged that if he died on Mars — as he would “like to” — his partner would “probably stay with [our kids] on Earth.”
What he’s said about providing for his kids
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Elon encouraged USC students to take risks before having kids in his 2014 commencement speech, explaining, “Once you have a family, you start taking risks not just for yourself, but for your family as well. It gets much harder to do things that might not work out.”
