How many children does Elon Musk have? Tesla CEO’s kids with Shivon Zilis, Grimes and Justine Wilson explained

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has opened up about the loss of his firstborn child as he discussed not allowing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones back on Twitter, the social media platform the billionaire has just acquired.

Far right-wing podcaster and conspiracy theoristJones has recently been ordered to pay $965 million dollars (£869 million) by US courts for falsely claiming the victims of a Sandy Hook school shooting were actors, and has also been banned from Twitter because of his extreme views.

When asked by a user of the site if Jones should be allowed back on Twitter, Musk said: “My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.”

Since the death of his firstborn, Musk has gone on to have nine more children. Last year, Musk reportedly fathered twins with one of his top executives, and the news has had people asking questions about the billionaire’s family - and more specifically his kids.

Shivon Zilis, who is an executive at Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink, is said to have given birth to the twins in November 2021 - just weeks before Musk and his on-again-off-again girlfriend Grimes welcomed their second child via surrogate in December 2021.

So, how many children does Elon Musk have now, and who are their mothers?

Here’s everything you need to know.

How many children does Elon Musk have?

The revelation of Musk’s twins brings the total number of children he has fathered to nine. According to court documents obtained by Insider, Musk had twins with Zilis last November. The documents showed that Musk, 51, and Zilis had filed a petition to change the names of the twins in order to have “their father’s last name and contain their mother’s last name as part of their middle name”. The order was approved earlier this year in May by a judge in Austin, Texas.

Alongside the twins he has with Zillis, Musk also shares two children with Canadian singer Grimes, whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher, and five others with his ex-wife Justine Wilson. Musk and his ex-wife also sadly lost their first child in 2002.

Who are the mothers of Elon Musk’s children?

Elon Musk’s children have three mothers; his ex-wife Justine Wilson, singer Grimes and Shivon Zilis. Musk and Wilson, who were married between 2000 and 2008, welcomed their first child, Nevada, into the world in 2002. Unfortunately he passed away at just 10-weeks-old from sudden infant death syndrome.

Following the death of Nevada, Musk and Wilson decided to continue their family through the use of IVF. In 2004, Musk and Wilson had twins, quickly followed by triplets in 2006. The former couple have continued to share custody of their children.

In 2018, it was announced that Musk was dating Canadian singer Grimes and the duo have been in an on-off relationship ever since. Grimes gave birth to their first son in May 2020, with the highly unusual name X Æ A-Xii, although the couple have said that they call him X for short. The pair then welcomed their daughter into the world via surrogate in December 2021. Their daughter also enjoys an equally usual name - Exa Dark Sideræl, although she is called Y for short.

In an interview with Vanity Fair in March 2022, Grimes said she and Musk were still together in their own way. She also said they wanted to have even more children.

“We’ve always wanted at least three or four [children],” she said.

Later in the same month, however, Grimes tweeted that she and Musk had broken up again following the publication of the article.

She wrote: “Me and E have broken up *again* since the writing of this article haha, but he’s my best friend and the love of my life.”

It is not clear whether or not Musk and Grimes were together at the time he conceived his twins with Zilis. Musk’s eldest daughter, who is called Vivian Jenna and has recently turned 18, has officially changed her name. Vivian, whose mother is Justine Wilson, said she wanted to remove Musk from her name as she does not wish to be related to her biological father “in any way, shape or form”. While her new name was redacted in the online document, American online newspaper TMZ reported that she intends to take her mother’s maiden name, Wilson, in place of Musk.

Musk’s daughter, who is transgender, also filed a request for a new birth certificate to reflect her identity as a trans woman at the Los Angeles County superior court in Santa Monica in April. There has been no explanation on the rift between Musk and his daughter, however, a month before the petition was filed in court, the SpaceX chief declared his support for the Republican party. The party has repeatedly endorsed a number of legislations that infringe on the rights of transgender individuals across the United States.

On two separate occasions in 2020, Musk also tweeted that “pronouns suck” and said that: “I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an aesthetic nightmare.”