Right-wing influencer sues to declare Elon Musk as her baby’s father

The last time Musk saw the child, 26-year-old Ashley St. Clair alleged, was a 30-minute visit in November in Austin

By Tobi Raji The Washington Post

Conservative influencer and author Ashley St. Clair petitioned a Manhattan court Friday to legally declare Elon Musk as her child’s father and to give her sole custody of the infant.

The petitions, filed in the New York Supreme Court, sketch the timeline of the pair’s relationship and cast the tech billionaire as an absent, uninvolved father. Musk did not respond to emails seeking comment.

In the custody petition, St. Clair, 26, alleges that Musk has met the child, named in the filing by the initials R.S.C., in person only three times since his September birth. St. Clair said Musk has had no involvement in the child’s care and upbringing and has not expressed an interest in having custody of the child, who lives in New York with St. Clair.

“I am, and always have been, the only parent and caretaker that R.S.C. has known,” St. Clair said in the petition. “I schedule and take him to all his medical appointments. I am the only parent who cares for him on a daily basis. I feed him, bathe him, and ensure that all his physical and emotional needs are met.”

The last time Musk saw the child, St. Clair said, was in November in Austin, for just 30 minutes.

Musk “has never asked to see our child on any other occasion, he has never communicated to me about our child without my prompting, he has never asked for photos of our child or checked in after doctor’s appointments,” St. Clair said.

St. Clair alleged that the pair began their romantic relationship in May 2023. She gave birth to R.S.C. the following year.

St. Clair, who is also requesting a court order for genetic testing to establish the paternity of the child, said her lawyers tried to settle the matter privately through Musk’s representative. However, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive did not sign the agreement, which would have required him to take a paternity test and later add his last name to the child’s own.

Despite this, St. Clair said, Musk has acknowledged his paternity several times, including after she gave birth to R.S.C. According to screenshots of text messages included in court documents, St. Clair sent Musk a picture of the newborn infant, to which he replied, “I look forward to seeing you and him this weekend.”

Musk also acknowledged his paternity while the pair were discussing security concerns, including Musk’s assertion that he was the target of assassination threats, according to court documents.

“If I make a mistake on security, [R.S.C.] will never know his father,” Musk wrote in a message to St. Clair, according to the screenshots of text messages. St. Clair responded by saying that was why Musk’s name was absent from the birth certificate, to which Musk said, “Necessary for now. … Only the paranoid survive.”

In November, Musk told St. Clair that he wanted to “knock you up again,” according to court documents. He also told St. Clair earlier this month that the two “have a legion of kids to make.”

St. Clair announced the news of R.S.C.’s birth on X on Feb. 14. “Five months ago, I welcomed a new baby into the world. Elon Musk is the father,” St. Clair said. “ … I intend to allow our child to grow in a normal and safe environment.”

Musk, who has 12 publicly acknowledged children, has been locked in a years-long custody battle over the three children he shares with Canadian singer Grimes. In 2023, Musk sued Grimes in Texas to establish parental rights; the singer filed a countersuit in California seeking primary physical custody and joint legal custody.

In a post on X, Grimes said she was “going bankrupt” while fighting for custody of the children she shares with the world’s richest person. “I just slept and cried every minute I wasn’t explicitly fighting for my kids during that year,” she wrote.

The two settled their custody dispute in Texas in August, Business Insider reported.

Earlier this week, the musician pleaded with Musk for help for “our child’s medical crisis.” She did not specify which of their three children is experiencing the health emergency or what that emergency is.

“If you don’t want to talk to me can you please designate or hire someone who can so that we can move forward on solving this. This is urgent, Elon,” she wrote in since-deleted posts on X.

“I’m not giving any details but he won’t respond to texts call or emails and has skipped every meeting and our child will suffer life long impairment if he doesn’t respond asap,” Grimes added. “ … if I have to apply public pressure then I guess that’s where we are at.”

Musk is estranged from his transgender daughter Vivian Wilson, The Post reported in July. She is one of six children Musk had with Justine Wilson, a writer. Musk also has three children with Shivon Zilis, an executive at his Neuralink company.