Life moves fast when you're in the orbit of the world's richest man. Honestly, most people didn't even know who Ashley St. Clair was until she dropped a massive bombshell in early 2025. She basically hopped on X—the platform where her whole saga started—and told the world she’d had a secret son with Elon Musk.
The kid's name? Romulus.
For a year, she lived in this weird, high-stakes shadow. Think $15,000-a-month Manhattan apartments and private security details, all while keeping the father's identity a total secret. It sounds like a movie script. But by early 2026, the quiet life was long gone. Now, it’s all lawsuits, custody threats, and AI deepfakes.
The Romulus Reveal: St. Clair Musk Connection
It started with a DM. That's how Ashley says it happened. Elon Musk apparently slid into her messages because he liked her memes or her work at the Babylon Bee. One thing led to another, they spent 48 hours together in San Francisco, and the rest is history.
In February 2025, she went public. She said she couldn’t keep the secret anymore because the tabloids were sniffing around. But here’s the kicker: Musk didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for the news. For a while, there was this awkward back-and-forth about whether he’d even take a paternity test. Eventually, court docs showed a Labcorp test with a 99.9999% probability.
That basically sealed it. Romulus was the 13th or 14th child for Musk, depending on how you're counting the ever-growing family tree.
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Why the Relationship Sour So Fast?
Money and control. It’s usually one or the other, right? St. Clair claimed that once she went public, the "amicable" vibe vanished. She alleged Musk cut her monthly support from $100,000 down to $40,000. She even mentioned on a podcast that she was facing eviction at one point.
It’s wild to think about. You’re raising the son of a centibillionaire but you’re doing ad reads for betting sites just to keep a roof over your head.
The 2026 Custody Battle and the Transgender Controversy
Fast forward to January 2026. Things got ugly. Like, "filing for full custody on X" ugly.
On January 12, Musk posted that he was seeking full custody of Romulus. His reasoning? He claimed Ashley’s recent social media posts implied she might "transition a one-year-old boy."
If you’ve followed the Musk family drama, you know this is a massive trigger for him. He’s been very vocal about his estrangement from his daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, blaming "woke" culture for their rift. So when Ashley posted an apology for her past "transphobic" remarks and said she wanted to make amends—specifically mentioning the pain she might have caused Vivian—Elon saw red.
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Ashley, for her part, went on CNN and basically said Elon's reading comprehension was the problem. She never said anything about transitioning an infant. She was just trying to be a better person, or at least that’s her side of it.
The Grok Lawsuit: A New Kind of Legal War
While the custody battle was heating up, a whole different legal bomb dropped. On January 15, 2026, Ashley St. Clair sued xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company.
The allegations are pretty disturbing. She claims that Grok, the AI chatbot integrated into X, was being used to generate nonconsensual, sexually explicit deepfakes of her.
- Users allegedly took photos of her from when she was 14 and asked the AI to "undress" her.
- She claims the AI generated images of her in degrading positions with swastikas.
- Despite her begging the company to stop, she says the images kept coming.
It’s a landmark case because it’s one of the first times a mother of one of Musk’s children is suing his company for "public nuisance." Her lawyer, Carrie Goldberg, is leaning hard into the idea that the product itself is "not reasonably safe."
The Texas vs. New York Feud
Naturally, there’s a jurisdictional fight.
xAI immediately countersued in Texas. They say her user agreement means any legal beef has to be settled in the Lone Star State. Ashley wants to stay in New York. It’s a classic legal stalemate that’s going to cost a fortune in billable hours.
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What Most People Get Wrong About Ashley St. Clair
A lot of folks write her off as just another "influencer" looking for a payday. But if you look at the timeline, she kept the secret for a long time. She didn't sell the story to People magazine the second the stick turned blue.
She's also in a weird political spot. She was a darling of the "MAGA" influencer scene, but now that she’s apologized for past trans comments, that crowd is turning on her too. She’s effectively a woman without a country—or at least a woman without a stable political base.
Key Takeaways from the St. Clair Musk Drama
- Paternity is certain: Despite the early drama, Romulus is legally and biologically Musk's son.
- AI is the new battlefield: The lawsuit against xAI isn't just about revenge; it’s a test case for how AI companies are held liable for the "hallucinations" or abuses of their users.
- Gender politics are central: This isn't just a "he said, she said" break-up. It’s tied deeply to Musk’s personal crusade against what he calls the "woke mind virus."
- Privacy is a myth: Even with $15 million "deals" and private security, secrets involving the world's most followed man eventually come out.
If you’re trying to keep track of the legal filings, focus on the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of Texas. Those two courts are going to be busy for the next few years. Also, keep an eye on X's monetization policies; Ashley claims her account was "retaliated" against and demonetized after she started complaining about the Grok images.
To stay updated on the specific court dates and the outcome of the restraining order regarding AI image generation, you should monitor the New York Supreme Court's public docket for the case of St. Clair v. xAI. This case is likely to set the standard for how nonconsensual AI-generated content is treated in civil court.