Elon Musk breaks his silence on Ashley St Clair's claim of having his child - after Tesla CEO gives her $2.5m in child support

The pair have been pitched against each other in the courts after Ashley filed a paternity suit against the billionaire - asking for sole legal custody of her baby son and for Musk to take a paternity test. Now Musk has declared "no court order is needed" to compel him to find out whether the child is his.

In a message posted on X - formerly known as Twitter - Musk wrote: "I don’t know if the child is mine or not, but am not against finding out. No court order is needed.

"Despite not knowing for sure, I have given Ashley $2.5M and am sending her $500k/year." However, Ashley claimed Musk has "refused" to take a test and disputed his assertions about the money he's given her.

In a response on X, she wrote: "Elon, we asked you to confirm paternity through a test before our child (who you named) was even born. You refused. And you weren’t sending *me* money, you were sending support for your child that you thought was necessary … until you withdrew most of it to maintain control and punish me for ‘disobedience.’ But you’re really only punishing your son."

The conservative influencer, 26, went to add: "It’s ironic that your last effort in court was to try to gag me while you use a social media channel you literally own to distribute derogatory messages about me and our child to the entire world. It’s all about control with you, and everyone can see it. America needs you to grow up, you petulant man-child."

Ashley first publicly claimed Musk was the father via X on 14 February, writing online: "Five months ago, I welcomed a new baby into the world. Elon Musk is the father ... 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." In court papers, Ashley previously claimed she began dating the SpaceX CEO, 53, in May 2023 and their son was conceived on or around 2 and 3 January 2024.

She alleged Elon was not present for the birth despite being given the opportunity and has shown no interest in custody. Ashley also claimed Mush had met the child only three times – on 21 September 2021 for two hours in New York, for one hour the following day, and for 30 minutes on 30 November 2024 in Austin, Texas. Aside from Ashley's son, Musk is also father to six kids with his first wife, Justine Wilson, three with his former girlfriend Grimes and four with his Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis.