How Many Kids Does Grimes Have With Elon Musk? Family Details Amid Parental Rights Lawsuit

Grimes and Elon Musk split up months ago, but they’re about to become entangled in a lawsuit. In October 2023, the Canadian songwriter sued her ex over their children. So, who are Grimes and Elon’s kids and what is the lawsuit about?

How Many Kids Do Grimes and Elon Musk Have Together?

Grimes and Elon have three kids together. The former couple welcomed their first son, X Æ A-12 — also known as X — on May 4, 2020. However, they revealed a few weeks later that they changed his name to X Æ A-Xii. While Grimes claimed on Instagram that it was because “Roman numerals look better,” she also hinted that it had to do with California law, which required that names had to use letters only from the American alphabet. So, numbers would not be allowed. Grimes also clarified that “one dash is allowed.”

Grimes then revealed to Vanity Fair in April 2022 that she and Elon had secretly welcomed a baby girl via surrogate in December 2021. Their daughter’s name is Exa Dark Sideræl, but she’s mostly known as Y.

Elon and Grimes’ third child was also a surprise to the public. In September 2023, journalist Walter Isaacson released a biography about Elon that revealed a son named Techno Mechanicus, who also goes by Tau. However, it’s unclear when the child was born.

In addition to his children with Grimes, Elon has seven other children. He shares twins Griffin and Vivian Musk and triplet sons Kai, Saxon and Damian Musk with ex-wife Justine Wilson, as well as a set of twins with Shivon Zilis.

Why Is Grimes Suing Elon Musk?

Multiple reports on October 3, 2023, stated that Grimes filed a petition against Elon the previous week, suing the billionaire for parental rights of their kids. The “petition to establish a parental relationship” is often required for unmarried couples and identifies a child’s legal parents, according to the San Francisco Standard, which first reported on the filing. Grimes has reportedly not yet requested child support or custody rights.

While it’s unclear what led to the lawsuit, Grimes claimed in a since-deleted tweet in September that Elon wouldn’t let her see one of her sons. She replied to Walter, who shared photos of Elon and Shivon’s twins, "Tell Shivon to unblock me and tell Elon to let me see my son or plz respond to my lawyer.” She also claimed that she had been unable to see photos of Shivon and Elon’s twins until that moment, “despite the situation utterly ripping my family apart."

However, days later, Grimes deleted her reply and wrote that she wanted to “de-escalate the narrative.” While she didn’t directly address the comment she made about Elon, Grimes apologized “for responding to Walter like that.” She also said she had spoken with Shivon.

“As u can imagine, that was a very gut level reaction to a thing that has been very hard for me. Communication about the twins wasn't handled super well in the past, but I now totally understand what happened and totally forgive the situation,” Grimes wrote.

Are Grimes and Elon Still Together?

Grimes and Elon had an on-and-off relationship that began in May 2018. Rumors first swirled that they had split in August 2018 when they unfollowed each other on social media after an alleged feud involving Azealia Banks. However, they were seemingly reconciled by January 2019 when they were seen in China together.

Elon later confirmed in September 2021 that he and Grimes had split after three years together. "[We] still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms," he said in a statement at the time.

During her Vanity Fair interview, Grimes said that she and Elon were “very fluid,” but noted that she would refer to him as her boyfriend. "We live in separate houses. We’re best friends. We see each other all the time. ... We just have our own thing going on, and I don’t expect other people to understand,” the singer added.

However, Grimes herself confirmed on Twitter in March 2022 that she and Elon had broken up again since the VF article was written. “But he’s my best friend and the love of my life, and my life and art are forever dedicated to The Mission now,” she added.