A new biography of Elon Musk confirmed that the Tesla CEO has a previously unreported third child with his ex-partner, Grimes, a musician from Canada. Musk and Grimes had previously tried to keep the existence of their third child private and it is still unclear when the child was born.

The child, whose age has not been made public, is reportedly named Techno Mechanicus and goes by Tau, as his nickname. Journalist Walter Isaacson, author of the biography on Musk that is set to release next week, is the first to confirm the couple has a third child, according to a review of the biography. Isaacson was given unprecedented access to Musk over the last two years to gain an insight into every aspect of the billionaire’s world.

The author got to 'attend Elon's meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries'. His book aims to provide a revealing inside story that explores the complex aspects of Musk's life and addresses the question of whether the same demons that drive him personally are also the driving force behind innovation and progress.

Musk and his long list of children

Accounting for Techno Mechanicus, Musk now has 10 known biological children with three different women, one of whom is Shivon Zilis, an executive at Musk's company, Neuralink who reports directly to him. Zilis had twins in 2021 after Musk had offered to be her sperm donor so that “the kids would be genetically his,” writes Isaacson. “He really wants smart people to have kids,” Zilis mentions in the biography. This took place while Musk & Grimes were expecting their second child. Musk reportedly hid the fact and did not inform Grimes that he had twins with one of his employees.

Musk and Grimes, born Claire Boucher, first announced their relationship at Met Gala in May 2018. Since then, the couple has announced the birth of two children. Their first was born in 2020 and named X Æ A-Xii, or X, in short. Musk and Grimes similarly waited months to finally announce in March 2022, the birth of their daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk (nicknamed Y), born via surrogate in December 2021.

In 2021, the couple announced they had “semi-separated” after three years of dating. Musk and Grimes have since split, but the musician has previously mentioned that their relationship is "fluid."

The singer recently implored her former partner to let her see their son in a since-deleted post. “Tell Shivon to unblock me and tell Elon to let me see my son or plz respond to my lawyer,” Grimes wrote in a now-deleted post to Isaacson on X, last week. “I have never even been allowed to see a photo of these children until this moment, despite the situation utterly ripping my family apart," she added.

On September 6, Mr Isaacson posted the first images of Musk with Shivon Zilis - the Neuralink executive with whom he welcomed twins in November 2021- and their two children. The author believes that the photo must have prompted Grimes to accuse Mr Musk of not allowing her to see their son X in a since deleted post on X.

More revelations from the biography

In the biography, Grimes refers to the way Musk handles his anger as “demon mode.” She goes on to state that it “causes a lot of chaos,” but also allows him to be productive.

Isaacson described Musk in his book as a "mercurial man-child". The author went on to say that Musk was relentlessly bullied as a kid in South Africa "until he grew big enough to beat up his bullies".

Isaacson's unreleased biography has also garnered attention for a scoop that the SpaceX CEO interfered with a Ukrainian offensive attack in Crimea by disabling nearby Starlink coverage. Excerpts released from Mr Issacson’s biography have contained a series of bombshell revelations about the eccentric billionaire’s personal life and his involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war.

In an extract obtained by media houses, it is revealed that Mr Musk ordered SpaceX engineers to cut off Ukrainian access to Starlink satellites near the Crimean coast to prevent a surprise drone attack on Russian warships. The drones packed with explosives eventually “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly” during the thwarted attack done some time last year. Musk reportedly feared that a planned attack on the occupied Crimea would trigger a nuclear response from Russia and would ultimately start a “mini-Pearl Harbour". Musk later tweeted that he never turned the satellites off, and instead claimed the satellites were never on and that he refused to activate them. He responded on X saying that the “Starlink regions in question were not activated. SpaceX did not deactivate anything”.

The biography titled 'Elon Musk' is available for pre-order and is due to be released on 12 September.

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