Elon Musk Tweets About 'Underpopulation Crisis' Amid Report He Fathered Twins With Top Exec
The business magnate reportedly welcomed twins with Neuralink’s Shivon Zilis in November, right before the birth of his second child with Grimes.
When it comes to expanding his family, Elon Musk is all about the more the merrier. The billionaire businessman tweeted about the “collapsing birth rate” on Thursday, just as a report he fathered twins with one of his top executives emerged.
According to court documents obtained by Insider, Musk, 51, welcomed twins with Neuralink director of operations and special projects, Shivon Zilis, in November 2021 — a month before the birth of his second child with his former partner Grimes. In the court papers, the Tesla CEO and Zilis, 36, asked that their children's names "have their father's last name and contain their mother's last name as part of their middle name" — a request that Insider reported was granted earlier this year. The twins’ names have yet to be announced.
On Thursday, Musk took to Twitter to seemingly confirm the news, writing that he’s “doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis.”
“A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far,” he added. “Mark my words, they are sadly true.”
Musk also tweeted that there are zero people living on Mars before writing, “I hope you have big families and congrats to those who already do!”
Musk has fathered 10 children: 18-year-old twins Griffin and Xavier, and 16-year-old triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian with his ex-wife Justine Wilson; X and Y with musician Grimes; and now twins with Zilis. He also lost a 10-week-old son in 2002 to sudden infant death syndrome.
Earlier this year, Xavier petitioned to legally change their name and gender to Vivian Jenna Wilson, a request that was granted. According to CBS News, Vivian also stated in court papers that she "no longer live[s] with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form."
Perhaps Musk doesn’t have to worry about the lack of parental leave in the U.S. or the cost of childcare and healthcare as he is the world's richest person with more than $200 billion in wealth. He has spoken about raising the population before, tweeting in May that the U.S. birth rate has been "below min sustainable levels for ~50 years."
“Contrary to what many think, the richer someone is, the fewer kids they have,” he said, calling the situation over the last two years a “demographic disaster.” “I am a rare exception. Most people I know have zero or one kid.”
According to May study released by the CDC, the U.S. birth rate increased for the first time in seven years in 2021. Preliminary data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics found that there were 3,659,289 babies born in the U.S. in 2021, a 1% increase from 2020’s 3,613,647 births. Last year’s numbers also mark the first rise in births since 2014.
“I mean, I’m doing my part haha,” Musk tweeted in June.
