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She wants nothing to do with him.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Jun 21, 2022
Elon Musk's daughter has filed legal documents to change her name in order to separate herself from her father and align herself with her gender identity.
According to documents filed in April with the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica Musk's 18-year-old child is requesting her name be changed from Xavier Alexander Musk to Vivian Jenna Wilson — adopting her mother Justine Wilson's last name.
These documents have offered a rare insight into some of the challenges of being raised by the billionaire Tesla founder, prompting questions about his closeness with his children.
Does Elon Musk have a relationship with his kids?
Musk's relationship with his children from his first marriage is largely a mystery. After he and ex-wife Justine Wilson divorced in 2008, she reveal in an essay that the couple share custody of their children.
During their marriage, Wilson and Musk welcomed a son, Nevada Alexander, who passed away at 10 weeks old due to sudden infant death syndrome. They also share twins Vivian and Griffin, and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian.
Wilson told Marie Claire that she and Musk are estranged, "When it comes to the children, I deal with his assistant."
Elon Musk's ex-wife Talulah Riley claimed he is a 'devoted' father.
During their marriage, Riley discussed Musk's parenting skills in Ashlee Vance’s biography of the SpaceX founder, which was released in 2015.
She claimed Musk is "devoted to his children."
"He tries to come home early for family dinners with me and the kids and maybe play some computer games with the boys," she continued.
She commented that at one point they had multiple nannies, but that eventually calmed down and they saw the children four days a week.
After splitting with Riley, he then dated Aquaman actress Amber Heard, who frequently posted pictures of them hanging out with Musk's kids.
Grimes has also praised Elon Musk's role in their kids' lives.
The former couple share a son, X Æ A-Xii who was born in May 2020, and daughter Exa Dark Sideræl who was born in December 2021.
Grimes said in a March 2022 interview with Vanity Fair that Elon “is really seeing [baby X] as a protégé and bringing him to everything and stuff,” referring to their first child together.
She has praised him as the "love of my life" and gushed about his role as a father.
Musk himself has also given a couple of insights into his relationship with his kids.
“If I have a trip for Tesla to China, for example, I’ll bring the kids with me and we’ll go see the Great Wall or we took the bullet train from Beijing to Xian and saw the Terracotta Warriors,” he said in an interview with The New York Times in 2020, admitting to taking his children on adventures with him.
But he says he’s just doing what he does with his other children as well.
“When the kid gets older, there will be more of a role for me,” he said in the same interview. “I think just doing what I’ve done with my other kids.”
In November 2021, he brought Baby X onto a Zoom call and laughed with joy as his son repeatedly said hi to the camera and wiggled his arms around in a little dance on his father’s lap.
So, why does Elon Musk's daughter want nothing to do with him?
While all of this spells out the behavior of a good father who is well-involved in his children’s lives, just being there isn’t the only bar to meet when it comes to being a supportive parent.
Musk's anti-trans comments have recently resurfaced, causing people to speculate that they’re the reason one of the billionaire’s eldest children wants to separate herself from him.
In July 2020, Elon tweeted out that “Pronouns suck,” but five months later added that "I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare," just two days after posting another offensive meme about gender pronouns.
Despite all of those things and recent comments regarding his confusion about gender identities, he tweeted a “Happy Father’s Day” adding that “I love all my kids so much.”
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Since graduating from Rutgers University, he spends most of his free time gaming or playing a fictional sport. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.