Elon Musk has this week addressed speculation that he's a father-of-13, releasing a damning statement online.
Whilst the first 12 of his brood have been long-confirmed, the tech boss was said to have fathered another baby earlier this year.
American author and media star Ashley St. Clair took to X (formerly Twitter) back in February, claiming she'd recently given birth to Musk's child.
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On Valentine's Day, she penned a statement online: "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."
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Brian Glicklich - a representative of the 26-year-old influencer - also shared his support.
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"Ashley & Elon have been privately working towards the creation of an agreement about raising their child for some time," he added at the time.
"We are waiting for Elon to publicly acknowledge his parental role with Ashley, to end unwarranted speculation."
Tesla CEO Musk, 53, and his team opted not to address the rumour at the time.
This week, however, he took to X to respond to the speculation, insisting that, whilst he can't be sure he is the father of St. Clair's child, he's not adverse to undergoing a paternity test.
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Musk's statement came in response to a tweet shared by far-right political activist Laura Loomer, who herself was responding to a video of St. Clair being ambushed by press with questions about her child's parentage.
Loomer slammed the star: "Gold digger and professional gaslighter @stclairashley was caught on camera outside of her ritzy Manhattan condo (paid for by her sugar daddy Elon Musk) selling her $100,000 @Tesla she said was gifted to her by @elonmusk during their romantic relationship.
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"She said she’s selling it to make up for $100,000 in alleged cuts to her child support payments from Elon."
Musk subsequently wrote back to Loomer: "I don’t know if the child is mine or not, but am not against finding out. No court order is needed."
The SpaceX front-man added: "Despite not knowing for sure, I have given Ashley $2.5M and am sending her $500k/year."
St. Clair herself then followed up on Musk's claim, accusing him of both 'refusing' to confirm paternity of the child, and 'withdrawing' most of his support 'to maintain control'.
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She wrote: "Elon, we asked you to confirm paternity through a test before our child (who you named) was even born. You refused.
"And you weren’t sending *me* money, you were sending support for your child that you thought was necessary… until you withdrew most of it to maintain control and punish me for 'disobedience.'
"But you’re really only punishing your son."
St. Clair continued: "It’s ironic that your last effort in court was to try to gag me while you use a social media channel you literally own to distribute derogatory messages about me and our child to the entire world.
"It’s all about control with you, and everyone can see it."
The social media star then implored Musk to 'grow up', branding him a 'petulant man-child'.
Musk also shares six children with his ex-wife Justine Wilson - to whom he was married between 2000 to 2008. Their first child, Nevada, died at 10-weeks of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
The South African went on to have three children with his musician ex-girlfriend, Grimes - whom he dated on-and-off between 2018 and 2022 - including their four-year-old son X Æ A-Xii.
Musk has also had three kids with his Neuralink executive, Shivon Zilis.
Rhianna Benson