‘Father of the Year Strikes Again’: Mother of Elon Musk’s 13th Child Claims He ‘Financially Retaliated’ Against Her Amid Nasty Custody Battle
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, 53, is entangled in a nasty legal battle with one of the mothers of his 13 children.
News broke in February 2025 that influencer Ashley St. Clair, 26, filed a petition with the New York Supreme Court requesting sole legal custody of their infant son, known only as R.S.C.
According to People, St. Clair’s legal team has accused the South African-born billionaire of fighting back against the MAGA conservative activist by purposely trying to harm their child.
“Elon Musk has financially retaliated against his own child and reduced his financial support substantially and unilaterally,” St. Clair’s lawyers told the outlet.
The statement continued, “He did this after Ashley was forced to bring this matter to court, when he refused to respond to her many private attempts to resolve this matter without publicity.”
In addition, the Bikel Rosenthal & Schanfield LLP firm claimed Musk filed an emergency application to gag Ashley to prevent her from speaking publicly about their custody battle.
“Ashley is vigorously opposing this application in order to preserve her right to speak out,” her attorneys stated. “All while Mr. Musk fashions himself a First Amendment warrior and freely communicates via his owned social media platform.”
After acquiring Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, Musk rebranded the networking app as X and used it to promote his right-wing politics.
The latest chapter in Musk and St. Clair’s ongoing litigation over their only child sparked a lot of reactions in the comment section of the People article.
Another commenter aimed directly at Musk by writing, “Maybe men who don’t want to be ‘trapped’ should get clipped so it’s not an issue. But as usual, it’s always the woman’s fault.”
“We can hope and pray that when it is time for court, and he more than likely doesn’t show up, that the judge awards Ms. St. Clair full custody of the child PLUS hefty child support,” a supporter of Ashley posted.
On People’s verified Instagram account, someone wondered, “Isn’t child support court-ordered? How does the richest man in the world get to reduce his child support?”
Another said, “This is obviously out of spite because he clearly doesn’t want custody since I’m pretty sure he only sees one of his 13 kids.”
Meanwhile, someone else joked, “Father of the year strikes again lol.”
In February 2025, St. Clair announced on X that she gave birth to Musk’s 13th child. The baby arrived in the world in September 2024.
“Five months ago, I welcomed a new baby into the world. Elon Musk is the father,” St. Clair tweeted on Valentine’s Day. “I have not previously disclosed this to protect our child’s privacy and safety, but in recent days it has become clear that tabloid media intends to do so, regardless of the harm it will cause.”
She continued, “I intend to allow our child to grow in a normal and safe environment. For that reason, I ask that the media honor our child’s privacy, and refrain from invasive reporting.”
Musk reportedly has fathered 14 children. His first son, Nevada Alexander, with ex-wife Justine Wilson passed away at 10 weeks old from sudden infant death syndrome in 2002.
The former married couple went on to have a set of twins, Vivian and Griffin, as well as a set of triplets, Kai, Saxon, and Damian. Musk divorced Wilson in 2008.
In 2020, Musk and singer Claire “Grimes” Boucher welcomed their first child named X Æ A-12. Sometimes referred to as Little X, the four-year-old boy is often seen at his dad’s side for public appearances.
Grimes is also the mother of a girl named Exa Dark Sideræl and a boy named Techno Mechanicus by the head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative.
Musk has twins, a son Strider, and a daughter Azure, with Shivon Zilis. The technology executive fathered two more children by Zillis. Their daughter, Arcadia, and their son, Seldon Lycurgus, joined the Musk clan.
Discussed with Elon and, in light of beautiful Arcadia’s birthday, we felt it was better to also just share directly about our wonderful and incredible son Seldon Lycurgus. Built like a juggernaut, with a solid heart of gold. Love him so much
— Shivon Zilis (@shivon) February 28, 2025
St. Clair revealed how she became one of Musk’s unwed co-parents. The former Babylon Bee writer shared details about their relationship with the New York Post in February 2025.
“Musk was very funny. He was smart. He was very down to earth. It started with X interactions and he slid into my DM’s. I think it was a meme,” she divulged.
Their connection developed after St. Clair flew to San Francisco to interview Musk at the new X headquarters. After becoming pregnant, Musk allegedly provided her with an expensive apartment in New York City and a security detail.
The fresh living quarters and bodyguard protection apparently came with conditions. On having Musk’s son, St. Clair claimed, “I was told to keep it secret. I was being asked to keep it a secret forever.”