Elon Musk and the woman who claims to be the mother of his child, Ashley St. Clair, will have a private custody battle over their son. The case has been sealed from the public.
St. Clair, a supporter of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement at 26 years old, filed a lawsuit against Musk, the 53-year-old CEO of Tesla and owner of X, to gain full custody of their son. She also demanded that Musk undergo a paternity test.
In a new document filed on Friday, an order for sealing was seemingly granted in the case.
Filings that had been publicly available have now been sealed, with any hearings in the case to be held behind closed doors.
In response to the legal action taken by St. Clair, Musk has hired a lawyer to represent him in the dispute. This move comes after he faced criticism for allegedly causing distress by not initially accepting the lawsuit.
The notification for sealing was filed by his attorney, Alyssa Rower, on Sunday according to New York courts online service.
Musk had been set to appear in court in late May in the legal dispute over St. Clair’s son, who goes by R.S.C. in the court docs, but that will now be held in private.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, St. Clair’s attorney Karen Rosenthal said: ‘The courtroom will be closed and the Record sealed. Other than that, I have no comment.’
MAGA influencer St. Clair, 26, had sued the Tesla CEO and X owner, 53, for sole custody of their son
Elon Musk speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington
Rosenthal had previously said that Musk had demonstrated ‘unnecessary gamesmanship’ after he failed to acknowledge the suit or appoint a lawyer.
The child was born in September 2024, and St. Clair says in her filing for the paternity test that she and Musk started a ‘romantic relationship in or about May 2023’.
St. Clair says that Musk has only met the boy three times and that she is the only parent to make decisions on the child’s behalf.
She claims that Musk was not present for the birth of their child and hasn’t expressed any interest in having custody.
According to the court documents, St Clair says she believes child was conceived on the island of St. Barts.
In her custody suit, St. Clair writes that it is in the best interests of the child that she have sole legal and physical custody.
She claims that the Musk first met the boy on September 21, 2024, in New York City, where she resides, for two hours.
The three are then said to have spent one hour together the following day, followed by a trip to Austin, Texas, in which he met the boy for 30 minutes.
As part of the exhibits for the paternity petition, the conservative firebrand shared a picture of Musk holding her son.
St. Clair is a conservative firebrand who has previously courted controversy by fraternizing with the far right
The new child with conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair would extend Musk’s brood to 13
Pictured: Musk holding the baby he allegedly shares with St. Clair, as seen in an exhibit of her paternity lawsuit
Alleged text messages from after the child’s birth were also added in the suit, which includes one from the day the boy was born.
St. Clair had sent Musk a picture of her clutching the newborn in the delivery room.
‘All well?’ Musk replied. To which, she responded ‘He is perfect.’ Musk replied: ‘I look forward to seeing you and him this weekend.’
In another, St. Clair sent him a selfie of her and a friend, to which Musk replied: ‘Hi cutie.’ She then texted him back, saying: ‘Hi, see u soon.’
The Tesla boss and ‘First Buddy’ followed up with a shocking reply: ‘I want to knock you up again’.
Other messages show Musk talking about a credible death threat on his life, saying he was ‘#2 after Trump for assassination’.
He told her: ‘Wake up. This is not the time for sentiment at the expense of safety. If I make a mistake on security [REDACTED] will never know his father.’
St. Clair responded saying: ‘That’s why the father spot on his birth certificate is blank right, E. Any he has my last name.’
In her custody suit, St. Clair writes that it is in the best interests of the child that she have sole legal and physical custody
St. Clair had sent Musk a picture of her clutching the newborn in hospital seemingly on the day he was born
In another, St. Clair has sent him a selfie of herself and a friend, to which Musk replies: ‘Hi cutie’ before telling her he wanted to ‘knock her up again’
Musk added: ‘Necessary for now. Only the paranoid survive’ before St. Clair responded saying that ‘incredible discretion’ had been used and would continue to be.
The Space X CEO then continued: ‘The threat level will reach insane levels until the election is decided. Loose lips sink ships.’
In another text exchange, St. Clair said she felt their relationship ‘broke down’ when Musk’s fixer and right-hand man Jared Birchall allegedly ‘got involved’.
She claimed: ‘He said a lot of pretty horrible things to me that he attributed to you and I feel as though there was never a rift in our relationship before that.
‘If you are in New York or if you’d like me to come to DC I really would appreciate being able to speak to you in person.
‘I care about you deeply and feel as though third parties have put a major rift in our relationship that I truly wish was better for the sake of our son.’
Musk responded: ‘Hmm ok’, to which she replied with a GIF of Jim Carrey’s character Ace Ventura saying his trademark phrase ‘Alllrighty then’.
Other messages show Musk talking about a credible death threat on his life, saying he was ‘#2 after Trump for assassination’
In another text exchange, which is undated, St. Clair says she feels their relationship ‘broke down’ when Musk’s fixer and right hand man Jared Birchall ‘got involved’
To that, he then added: ‘Well, we do have a legion of kids to make’.
She announced the baby in a post on the evening of Valentine’s day, saying: ‘Five months ago, I welcomed a new baby into the world. Elon Musk is the father.
‘I have not previously disclosed this to protect our child’s privacy and safety, but in recent days it has become clear that tabloid media intends to do so, regardless of the harm it will cause.
‘I intend to allow our child to grow in a normal and safe environment. For that reason, I ask that the media honor our child’s privacy, and refrain from invasive reporting.’
Soon after the announcement, Musk penned a cryptic post to X in reply to a fan who said making ‘another baby’ was yet another of Musk’s ‘side quests’. Musk reacted with crying laughing emoji.
DailyMail.com revealed that St. Clair moved about a year ago into a swanky Manhattan apartment near City Hall, costing around $12,000 to $15,000 per month.
St. Clair said Musk first ‘slid into my DMs’ in May 2023, and that she met him at an interview he did that month with her then-boss Seth Dillon, CEO of right-leaning satirical news site Babylon Bee in San Francisco.
In an interview with the New York Post the day after she went public about her baby, St. Clair said Musk followed up his meeting with her in San Francisco with an invite to join him on an impromptu trip to Providence, Rhode Island.
‘After the interview, I got a text from him saying, ‘Feel like going to Providence [Rhode Island] tonight?’ she told the Post.
The DailyMail.com had been investigating claims that the two were in a romantic relationship, weeks before St. Clair publicly claimed she had Musk’s baby.
Musk has always wanted to have a large family and he once claimed that ‘civilization is going to crumble’ if people don’t have more children.
So far, the billionaire has fathered 12 kids with three different women. His latest with St. Clair would be his 13th.
Musk’s lawyer in the case was approached for comment.
