Grimes sues Elon Musk over parental rights of their three children

Singer-songwriter Claire Boucher, better known as Grimes, has taken legal action against her former partner Elon Musk over parental rights of their three children, according to a court docket obtained by NBC News. On Friday, Grimes filed a petition “to establish parental relationship” in San Francisco Superior Court. A notice of alternative dispute resolution methods was also filed that day, per NBC News. 

Grimes and Musk welcomed their first son, named X Æ A-Xii (or X), in May 2020 and a daughter, named Exa Dark Sideræl (or Y), via surrogate in December 2021. Last month, it was revealed in writer Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk that the couple also had a third child together. The baby boy’s name is Techno Mechanicus (or Tau), according to the New York Times review of the book.

Musk and Grimes parted ways in March 2022 after four years of dating. In September of this year, the couple’s relationship tensions were on full display after Grimes took to X (formerly Twitter, which is owned by Musk) begging Musk to allow her to see their son. The now-deleted post was made in response to Isaacson, who posted a photo of twins Musk had with tech executive Shivon Zilis.  

“Tell Shivon to unblock me and tell Elon to let me see my son or plz respond to my lawyer,” Grimes wrote. “I have never been allowed to see a photo of these children until this moment, despite the situation utterly ripping my family apart.”

Shortly after, Grimes issued an apology online and confirmed the news of their third child:

“I truly apologize for responding to Walter like that. As u can imagine, that was a very gut level reaction to a thing that has been very hard for me,” Grimes wrote in a Sept.10 post. “Communication about the twins wasn’t handled super well in the past, but I now totally understand what happened and totally forgive the situation.”