Tesla founder Elon Musk, a firm believer that population collapse is a bigger threat to the planet than global warming, is doing his best to stem the crisis.

During his life, the South African, 52, has fathered eleven children with three different mothers, six with first wife Justine Wilson, who he divorced in 2008, three with on-again/off-again girlfriend Canadian musician Grimes and twins with his employee Shivon Zilis.

A new biography reveals that Musk and Grimes had a son in secret, his eleventh child, who was named Techno Mechanicus but who they have been calling Tao. In June 2024, it emerged that Zilis had given birth to his latest child earlier in the year.

Tau’s age was not disclosed. The revelation came soon after Grimes pleaded with Musk, writing ‘let me see my son’ in now-deleted social media post — but it’s unclear now whether she was referring to Tau, or their older son X.

Musk’s family dramas have long been played out in public. In 2022, his daughter, Vivian changed her name from Xavier and stated that she wanted nothing to do with her father. Musk for his part, blamed that on her liberal college. For the most part, his other children seem to a big part of his life.

Here MailOnline takes a look at Elon Musk’s brood:

Musk’s first wife Justine Wilson is the mother of the his first child, Nevada, twins Griffin and Xavier as well as triplets Kai, Damian and Saxon 

Musk met his first wife Justine Wilson while he was a student at Queen’s University in Ontario. The pair married in 2000. Wilson told Musk biography Ashlee Vance, that he ‘wanted to get married and have kids early on.’

Wilson gave birth to their first child, Nevada, in 2002. Tragically, at just ten weeks old Nevada Alexander Musk died as a result of sudden infant death syndrome.

In 2004, Wilson gave birth to twins, Xavier and Griffin, followed by triplets, Kai, Saxon and Damian, in 2006.

After divorcing in 2008, Musk and Wilson agreed to share custody. Wilson wrote in an essay for Marie Clare in 2010 that she felt more like an ’employee’ to Musk than a partner.

Elon Musk and his first wife Justine lost their son Nevada Alexander in 2002

Musk and Wilson also used IVF to have triplet sons Damian, Kai and Saxon in January 2006.

Elon Musk and his second wife, British actress Talulah Riley, are pictured in 2015 with Xavier and Griffin. The twins are now 19, and Xavier is known as Vivian

When his relationship with Wilson ended, Musk married British actress Talulah Riley. He told the New Yorker that the pair planned to have children in a 2009 interview.

His reason was ‘so we don’t devolve into a not very literate, theocratic and unenlightened future.’

According to the feature, Musk said that he told female employees that they ‘should have, on average, 2.1 kids per woman.’

In a 2012 Esquire feature, Wilson referred to all of their children as being autistic.

It was revealed in 2018 that they were being educated at a radical, ultra-exclusive school set up by the business mogul at his SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

The ‘experimental’ school, which is called Ad Astra, meaning ‘to the stars’ in Latin, was founded in 2014.

It is attended by a very small, select group of students, including Musk’s children and the offspring of several SpaceX employees.

Xavier changed her name to Vivian in 2022 and legally changed her gender saying that he did not want ‘to be related to my biological father in any way.’

Vivian Wilson seen shortly after changing her name and gender legally in 2022

Xavier changed her name to Vivian in 2022 and legally changed her gender saying that he did not want ‘to be related to my biological father in any way’

In June 2022, it was reported that Vivian had officially adopted her mother Justine’s maiden name and that she had also been granted a first and middle name change by the Los Angeles County Superior Court, as well as a gender change.

At the time, it was revealed that a new birth certificate reflecting the switch was due to be issued shortly after Vivian’s petition was granted by a judge.

The judge’s ruling simply read: ‘The petitioner’s name is changed from Xavier Alexander Musk to Vivian Jenna Wilson. The gender of the petitioner is changed from male to female.’

Musk’s long term on-again/off-again partner Grimes is the mother to his son X AE A-Xii, daughter Exa Dark Sideræl Musk and youngest child Tau Techno Mechanicus

Musk started dating singer Grimes in May 2018 and she gave birth to their son X AE A-Xii, pictured here, in May 2020

Musk pictured with his son in April 2023

In 2020, Musk’s girlfriend Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, 35, gave birth to their first child together, X Æ A-12.

Musk discussed the name saying that the X is the ‘unknown variable’ and that the Æ is his ‘Elven spelling of Ai,’ and that the A-12 is a reference to an aircraft.

During his infamous appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Musk said that the Æ is pronounced ‘Ash.’ He has also said that he calls his child X.

‘First of all, my partner’s the one that mostly came up with the name. It’s just X, and then Æ is pronounced ‘Ash’ and then, A-12, is my contribution,’ he told the comedian.

His birth was registered in California as X Æ A-Xii due to California law.

A daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, was born in 2021.

Her existence was revealed when she started crying while Grimes was being interviewed by a Vanity Fair reporter. The child was born via surrogate. Her name is pronounced ‘sigh-deer-ee-el’ and goes by Y.

Just last week, Grimes sent out a series of social media messages suggesting that she has been denied access to her child

Elon Musk has revealed that he has a previously undisclosed third child with the singer Grimes, named Tau Techno Mechanicus, or Tau for short

In September 2023, it was revealed that the couple had another child, Tao, who was born sometime in 2022.

‘I wish I could show u how cute little Techno is, but my priority rn is keeping my babies out of the public eye, Plz respect that at this time,’ Grimes tweeted after news of the child’s existence came to light.

Grimes said in a 2022 interview with Vanity Fair she and Musk wanted to have ‘three or four’ children despite admitting that they were no longer together.

‘There’s no real word for it. I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we’re very fluid. 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 it,’ Grimes said.

In a tweet last week, Grimes said: ‘I have never been allowed to see a photo of these children until this moment, despite the situation utterly ripping my family apart.’

The couple first got together in 2018.

In 2022, Musk’s employee Shivon Zilis gave birth a set of twins, Strider and Azure 

Grimes posted the message beneath a picture of Musk’s twins Strider and Azure (pictured here aged 16 months with their parents Musk and Shivon Zilis, 36

Zilis is one of the top executives at Elon Musk’s company Neuralink, welcomed twins with the Tesla CEO in November, court documents revealed

Shortly before the birth of his child, Exa, Musk had twins, Strider and Azure, with one of his Neuralink employees Shivon Zilis.

‘Musk didn’t tell Grimes that he had just had twins with one of his employees,’ according to the new biography. Grimes was left ‘outraged’ by the news, the book says.

Zillis is the director operations and special projects for Neuralink and was considered one of those that Musk may have nominated to run Twitter.

A Texas judge allowed the parents to change the twins’ names so that they could ‘have their father’s last name and contain their mother’s last name as part of their middle name.’

Zilis, who was born in Ontario, Canada, met Musk through OpenAI, the artificial-intelligence research-and-deployment nonprofit Musk cofounded in 2015, Insider reported.

She studied economics and philosophy at Yale where she also played goalie on the women’s ice-hockey team.

The new book goes on to describe Zilis as Musk’s ‘intellectual companion on artificial intelligence since the founding of OpenAI eight years earlier.’

Zilis is quoted in the new book as saying that Musk ‘really wants smart people to have kids’ adding that he sought to be her sperm donor so that the ‘kids would be genetically his.’

The new book, titled simply Elon Musk, is released on September 12. In addition to the billionaire’s family, the book also revealed the extent of his involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war.

In following Musk for two years, Isaacson ‘attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries.’

It’s unclear if Musk’s belief in population crisis is featured in the book. ‘Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming. Mark these words,’ he tweeted in 2022. He has also encouraged others to follow his lead and to have more children.

A New York Times review of the book said that Musk’s domestic life is ‘largely beside the point of the book’ as it paints a picture of the X owner as being ‘preoccupied with his business.’