Elon Musk and Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis welcomed a new baby earlier this year. While the public is only now learning about their child through media reports, the Tesla CEO clarified to Page Six that it was never a secret.
Mr Musk addressed the situation, saying, "All our friends and family know. Failure to issue a press release, which would be bizarre, does not mean 'secret'."
The baby, whose name and sex have not been disclosed, is Mr Musk's 12th child and his third with Shivon Zilis, who works at his brain implant company, Neuralink.
The birth was first revealed in a Bloomberg article titled, ‘Elon Wants You to Have More Babies', which focused on Mr Musk's concern over declining birth rates.
Ms Zilis declined to comment for the Bloomberg story, and Elon Musk did not respond to inquiries about the newborn at the time.
Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis previously welcomed twins, Strider and Azure, in November 2021. The twins were born just one month before Mr Musk and alt-pop singer Grimes had their daughter, Exa Dark Siderael, via surrogacy.
In September 2023, Grimes, who is the mother of three of Mr Musk's children, shared a lengthy post on X, requesting privacy for their three children. She addressed recent headlines about her co-parenting relationship with Mr Musk and the revelation that they quietly welcomed a third baby, a son Techno, soon after Mr Musk welcomed children with Ms Zilis.
Grimes mentioned that she had a “long overdue conversation” with Ms Zilis and wrote that the circumstances were not Ms Zilis' fault. “We respect each other a lot and we're excited to become friends and have the kids grow up together,” she wrote.
In July 2022, the billionaire showed his support for large families, stating, “Bravo to big families” and shared his desire to have as many children as he can spend time with, and be a good father too. He also stated his concerns about declining birth rates, tweeting, “A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilisation faces, by far.”
Now Elon Musk has reiterated his concerns, stating that many countries are already well below the “replacement rate” and that this trend is expected to continue. He stressed the importance of maintaining population levels, noting that 2.1 children per woman is considered the replacement rate and that the global average is expected to fall below this point soon.
