A Deep Dive Into Elon Musk's Messy Custody Battle With His Ex Grimes
Like controversial actor Nick Cannon, Elon Musk feels a responsibility to repopulate the world — which may be one reason why he has so many children with different women. "[Elon] believes that people should have many more children," biographer Walter Isaacson revealed on "Today" in 2023. "He wants to have a lot of children." To that last, we'd say mission accomplished. Page Six reports that Musk is currently a father to 11, after welcoming his latest child, Techno Mechanicus, with Canadian singer Grimes in 2023. However, the couple have been on and off ever since they started dating in 2018. Musk even welcomed twins with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis in November 2021, a month before he and Grimes' second child was born via surrogate.
In 2022, Grimes told Vanity Fair that her relationship with Musk was "fluid." She added, "We just have our own thing going on, and I don't expect other people to understand." As of 2023, the couple — who have been broken up since Grimes' interview — are feuding over their three children. According to Business Insider, both Musk and Grimes have sued each other for parental rights, a suit made more complicated by the fact that they can't agree on where their kids live. Grimes is currently based in California, while Musk lives in Texas. In Texas, monthly child support caps out at $2,760 a month, but California doesn't have any limits on child support payments. You could say this is causing tension between the exes.
Elon Musk and Grimes argue over which state has jurisdiction
According to Business Insider, Elon Musk first sued Grimes over the parental rights of their three children on September 7. The court papers alleged that he had taken care of each child in Texas, which is his primary place of residence. Grimes had lived with him in Texas for three months, before deciding to move to California "in an apparent attempt to circumvent jurisdiction [of Texas courts]."
Per Page Six, Grimes countersued her ex later that month, asking for primary physical custody and joint legal custody of their children. In October, Radar reported that she requested Musk's Texas suit be thrown out, arguing their children spend the majority of their time with her in California. But Musk fired back in November, filing a petition that accused Grimes of relocating to California so that she could potentially extract higher child support payments from him, per Business Insider. This put the former couple at a stalemate, as family law experts explained that the next step is for Musk and Grimes to prove which state their three children live in.
As the case continues to play out, Musk has frequently been seen out in public with his oldest son, X. On December 9, TMZ papped the billionaire with X at the Army-Navy game. Could Musk be hinting that the children spend more time with him (than Grimes)? Previously, Grimes told Vanity Fair that she prefers to keep the kids out of the limelight.
What's the latest in the court case?
As of this writing, Elon Musk might have the upper hand in the ongoing lawsuits. Per Business Insider, the Tesla owner has been using Grimes' tweets in court to prove that Texas was her place of residence. "Austin [Texas] I'm moving houses purging clothes," Grimes wrote in a tweet posted to X in April 2023. The singer also tweeted about affordable housing in Texas, writing, "Almost half of Texans are housing burdened."
Musk is arguing that these and other "tweets reflected [Grimes'] continued residence [in Texas]," and California family law attorney Christopher Melcher told Business Insider that they look bad. "Those tweets are extremely damaging to Grimes and her credibility," he said. To be fair though, Grimes also posted that she was "back in Cali" in October 2023, so it's hard to determine her place of residence from social media alone. Additionally, it feels like Grimes is the one with more to lose in this case. Yes, Musk could be ordered to pay a lot more in child support if a judge rules that the California courts have jurisdiction — but isn't that just a drop in the bucket for one of the world's wealthiest men?
Ultimately, the contentious nature of this case hints at how relations between Grimes and Musk have rapidly deteriorated. In 2022, the singer told Vanity Fair that she and Musk were "best friends," and now, she's calling him a liar. In fact, they both are.