Elon Musk sued by Ashley St. Clair for sole custody and paternity rights’ seeks sole custody of their 5-month-old baby

Social media influencer and author Ashley St. Clair has initiated legal proceedings against Elon Musk, seeking sole legal custody of their infant son. St. Clair submitted the custody petition to the New York Supreme Court on Friday, 21st February. Within the petition, she asserts that New York is the child’s home state, identifying him as R.S.C. The 26-year-old author alleges that Musk is the father of the child, who was born in September 2024, though the precise date has been redacted from the filing. She claims that Musk was absent at the birth of R.S.C. and “has met him only three (3) times and has had no involvement in his care and upbringing.”

Although St. Clair has named Musk as R.S.C.’s father, she has also filed a paternity petition alongside the custody request. In the petition, she states that she and Musk embarked on a “romantic relationship in or about May 2023” and that they were intimate in January 2024, which led to the conception of R.S.C. She asserts that Musk “acknowledged parentage of the child in various written correspondences,” including a text exchange following R.S.C.’s birth. According to St. Clair, she sent Musk a photograph of herself with the newborn shortly after his birth, to which he allegedly responded, “I look forward to seeing you and him this weekend.” A screenshot of this purported exchange has been included in her petition.

Regarding concerns over security, she claims that Musk remarked, “If I make a mistake on security, [R.S.C.] will never know his father,” which she interprets as another admission of parentage. St. Clair states that Musk first met his son on 21st September 2024, spending two hours together, followed by another meeting lasting one hour the following day. She alleges that Musk last saw R.S.C. on 30th November 2024, for only 30 minutes. A week prior to this meeting, she claims Musk messaged her on 24th November 2024, stating, “I want to knock you up again.” Three months later, she asserts that Musk sent another message: “Well, we do have a legion of kids to make.”

“Ashley St. Clair has filed paternity and custody petitions to protect the best interests of her child,” her representative, Brian Glickich, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “She has made every effort to collaborate with Mr. Musk before taking this step. She has no further comment on the contents of the petitions, which speak for themselves.” PEOPLE has sought comments from Musk’s representatives and legal team.

St. Clair has requested that the court “issue a summons, warrant or order requiring the Respondent to show cause why the Court should not enter a declaration of paternity, an order of support and such other and further relief as may be appropriate under the circumstances.”

In an affirmation from her solicitor, St. Clair’s legal representative, Karen B. Rosenthal, writes: “This firm has been dealing with Respondent’s lawyer and representative, Alyssa Rower from Rower, LLC, in an attempt to resolve this matter privately. The law firm has offices in Manhattan and Westchester, New York. However, his representatives have been nonresponsive in the past to resolve the outstanding issues and Respondent has indicated that he no longer wishes to resolve issues of custody and support amicably.”

Rosenthal further explained that, due to Musk’s role in the Trump administration, serving him legal documents at the White House would not be feasible because of the heightened security measures in place.

Musk is the father of 13 children with four women, including the alleged child with St. Clair. This legal action follows an appeal from Musk’s former partner and the mother of three of his children, singer-songwriter Grimes, who publicly urged him on X to stop ignoring their child’s “medical crisis” just one day prior.

“Plz respond about our child’s medical crisis,” she wrote in part on Thursday, 20th February. “He won’t respond to texts call or emails and has skipped every meeting and our child will suffer life long impairment if he doesn’t respond asap.”

Grimes did not disclose details regarding the nature of the medical crisis or which of their children it involved.