Elon Musk recently confirmed the birth of his 12th child, his third with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, earlier this year. The 52-year-old tech billionaire emphasized that the news was not a “secret” and that issuing a press release would have been “bizarre.” The name and sex of the baby have not been disclosed.
Zilis, 37, previously stated that she is not romantically involved with Musk and that their children were conceived via in vitro fertilization (IVF). Musk shares three children with singer Grimes and five with his ex-wife, author Justine Wilson. His first child with Wilson died at 10 weeks old in 2002.
A vocal advocate for increasing birth rates, Musk has often spoken about the dangers of a declining birth rate. He has donated $10 million to a fertility and population research project and praised efforts to boost birth rates in Japan. He has also expressed concern over China’s declining population, noting that the country could lose about 40% of its population every generation at the current birth rate.
Musk has dismissed the idea that choosing not to have children for environmental reasons is valid, calling it “total nonsense.” He highlighted that the US birth rate has been below sustainable levels for 50 years.
