On March 31, on the social media platform X, Elon Musk attracted attention when he responded to a video recording the scene of Ashley St. Clair, 26 years old, selling the Tesla car that he had given her to raise her child. In the video, St. Clair said that she sold the car to offset the child support that Musk had cut, which was estimated to account for 60% of the total cost of raising her child.
The person who posted the video said that the Tesla was a gift from the tech billionaire to St. Clair when they were dating, and she sold it for $100,000. Under the post, Musk commented: “I don’t know if the child is mine, but I don’t object to verification. No court order needed. Even though I’m not sure about the parentage, I still gave Ashley $2.5 million and sent her an additional $500,000 in child support each year.”
Ashley St. Clair later responded. She said she had asked Musk to take a paternity test before their child was born but was refused. She claimed that Musk had intentionally cut child support payments in retaliation for her filing a child support lawsuit. “You’re not sending me money, you’re just paying for my son because you think it’s necessary, then cutting it to punish me for ‘not listening’. But in reality, the person you’re punishing is your own son,” St. Clair wrote, calling Musk “a man who sulks like a child.”
Elon Musk and his team have not yet responded to the incident.
The feud between Musk and St. Clair began on March 20, when St. Clair accused the tech billionaire of “financial retaliation” by unilaterally cutting child support payments after she filed for sole custody in February. Elon Musk also filed an emergency motion asking the court to issue a restraining order against St. Clair from speaking about him, but she opposed the request on the grounds of protecting her right to free speech.
Elon Musk still pays child support despite not confirming parentage.
Ashley St. Clair, born in 1999, is a children’s book author whose most notable work is Elephants Are Not Birds (2023). She is also known as a social media influencer with over a million followers on the X platform and is a conservative.
On February 14, St. Clair publicly revealed that she had secretly given birth to Elon Musk’s child. According to court documents, the child, whose initials are RSC, was born in September 2024 in New York. St. Clair said Musk had only met the child three times, was not present when she gave birth, and did not participate in the process of caring for and raising the child.
In late February, a New York court ordered Elon Musk to appear for a hearing on May 29. The hearing will consider the request for a paternity test, child custody, and child support between the two parties. The case is being overseen by Judge Jeffrey H. Pearlman of the New York Supreme Court.
In addition to his child with St. Clair, Elon Musk now has a total of 13 children with three other women. He has five with ex-wife Justine Wilson, three with singer Grimes and four with Neuralink CEO Shivon Zilis.
