Ashley St. Clair has shared the unique name of her child, whom she alleges was fathered by Elon Musk.
In an interview published by The Wall Street Journal on April 15, the 26-year-old influencer confirmed that her son, who was born in secret in September 2024, is named Romulus, a reference to the mythical founder of Rome.
The name comes in the wake of legal and public chaos surrounding the child’s paternity and St. Clair’s lawsuit for sole custody.
According to the publication, a paternity test indicated the 53-year-old’s “probability of paternity” is 99.9999 percent, though Musk has not publicly confirmed he is Romulus’ father.
In March, he wrote on X: “I don’t know if the child is mine or not, but am not against finding out. No court order is needed. Despite not knowing for sure, I have given Ashley $2.5M and am sending her $500k/year.”
But St. Clair says the money came with strings. She claims Musk’s longtime aide, Jared Birchall, offered her $15 million and $100,000 per month in child support in exchange for her silence about the baby.
“I don’t want my son to feel like he’s a secret,” she told the WSJ, adding that after she declined the deal, Birchall warned her: women who go the “legal route” always fare worse.
The conflict turned public when St. Clair took legal action in Manhattan to establish paternity and gain sole custody.
Court documents include alleged private messages from Musk, including one where he reportedly told her, “I want to knock you up again,” and another replying to her request for a meeting with: “Hmm ok. Well, I do have a legion of kids to make.”
As part of her filings, she submitted a photo of the SpaceX founder holding her son, along with details of visits: first meeting him in New York City on September 21 for two hours, seeing him again the next day, and once more in Austin on November 30, though only for 30 minutes.
Musk initially responded online with a single word – “Whoa” – but St. Clair quickly shot back: “Elon, we have been trying to communicate for the past several days and you have not responded. When are you going to reply to us instead of publicly responding to smears from an individual who just posted photos of me in underwear at 15 years old?”
A rep for the influencer told PEOPLE: “This has never been about money for Ashley. This is about protecting the best interests of Ashley and Elon’s child from a man who can’t be counted on to even communicate, much less act consistently in the role of a father.”
St. Clair had initially kept her child’s parentage private. But after tabloids began sniffing around, she broke her silence in a post five months after Romulus was born.
“Elon Musk is the father,” she wrote in the February post. “I have not previously disclosed this to protect our child’s privacy and safety, but in recent days it has become clear that the tabloid media intends to do so, regardless of the harm it will cause.”
“I intend to allow our child to grow in a normal and safe environment. For that reason, I ask that the media honor our child’s privacy, and refrain from invasive reporting,” she added.
Many people reacted to the news, including Musk’s estranged daughter Vivian Wilson, who took to TikTok to share a close-up of her eye with the caption: “This is already outdated nevermind.” She added, “Technically it was through Threads this time though.”
In a comment, Wilson, who legally changed her name after coming out as transgender in 2022, clarified: “For clarity’s sake, I have found out through specifically Reddit twice – but through the internet in general 7 times.”
