Grimes and Elon Musk attend the Met's Costume Institute benefit gala in 2018. Grimes, 31, revealed that she had early complications in her pregnancy but a better second trimester. She did not disclose the father of her child. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
The custody battle between Elon Musk and Grimes is heating up with a report that the Tesla CEO actually filed suit first to establish parental rights over their three young children, claiming that he has had “actual care, control, and possession of each child” since their birth.
Last month, Musk secretly filed a petition in Texas to establish parent rights over the children, ages 3 and 1, before Grimes, whose birth name is Claire Boucher, decided to sue the tech mogul herself in San Francisco this week, according to Insider and Page Six.
In his petition, filed Sept. 7, Musk accused Grimes, his sometimes girlfriend, of moving California to escape the jurisdiction of Texas courts, Insider reported.
He said Grimes lived with him and their three children in Texas from May to July this year, Insider said. But after Musk served Grimes on Sept. 13, she turned around and sued him in San Francisco Superior Court on Sept. 29. In her petition, Grimes has asked for physical custody of the children and includes a “standard restraining order, “which would prevent the children from being moved out of California by either parent.
These dueling lawsuits mark the latest dust-up over the children of Musk and Grimes, a couple who were in an on-again, off-again relationship starting in 2018, Insider said. Musk and Grimes first became parents together in May 2020 when she gave birth to their son, X Æ A-Xii, otherwise known as X. In late 2021, Grimes revealed that they also became parents of a daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl, who was born via surrogate. More recently, the couple confirmed that they also had a son together, Techno Mechanicus, nicknamed Tau, who also was born via surrogate.
Although the couple reportedly first broke up in 2022, they appeared to maintain a cordial relationship, Insider said. Grimes even continued to live with Musk in Austin for a period after they first broke up.
Still, Grimes revealed that she had problems with some of Musk’s parenting choices. She told Vanity Fair that she preferred to keep their children out of the public eye and expressed dismay when Musk began to bring their oldest child, X, to public events.
“I mean, I think E is really seeing him as a protégé and bringing him to everything and stuff,” Grimes told Vanity Fair.
The first sign that their relationship had turned hostile came last month when Grimes shared a since-deleted post on X, her ex-boyfriend’s platform, in which she alleged that he wasn’t allowing her to see one of their children. She also threatened to take the billionaire to court unless he let her see her son or responded to her lawyer. She said the situation was “utterly ripping my family apart.”
In Grimes’ petition filed in San Francisco, the singer is also seeking to “establish parental relationship.” Los Angeles-based family law attorney Christopher Melcher said this request is routine in cases when couples are not not married and is usually filed alongside demands for child support and custody rights.
TMZ said it appears that Grimes is setting up a situation to have a judge establish custody rights and child support. Unless there is a finding that Grimes is an unfit parent, she would almost certainly have some custodial rights, TMZ said. In fact, judges usually award both parents joint custody. In Musk’s court filings, he said believed the custody dispute would settle, but wanted Texas courts to weigh in if it didn’t, Insider said.
If Grimes has been complaining about Musk being inflexible when it comes to parenting, many would say she could have informed herself better before she chose to have three children with him.
For starts, the tech mogul has 11 children with three different women and has expressed the belief that declining birth rates are a threat to human civilization and that “smart people” like himself need to populate the earth with as many children as possible.
Musk’s first wife, Canadian novelist Justine Wilson, characterized him as a difficult, controlling and patriarchal. Musk and Wilson, who were married from 2000 to 2008, had six children together, the first of whom died at age 10 weeks of sudden infant death syndrome. Wilson said Musk grew up in the male-dominated culture of South Africa and has a “will to compete and dominate.”
More recently, Musk welcomed twins with his current partner Shivon Zitis. The twins were born shortly before Grimes and Musk welcomed their daughter Exa Dark Sideræl.
According to the new biography of Musk by Water Isaacson, Grimes apparently only learned that Musk and Zilis had twins together at the same time as the rest of the public — even though Zilis gave birth while Grimes and Musk’s surrogate was just down the hallway in the same maternity ward, Jezebel reported.
Originally published at Martha Ross