Controversial billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that he’s welcomed a new baby with Markham-born Neuralink director Shivon Zilis.
The baby is the 52-year-old Musk’s 12th known child and his third child with Zilis — already having fathered twins with the executive. Though with a net worth of over US$215 billion, Musk is the richest person in the world and can no doubt afford the high costs associated with parenting (or at least funding) so many kids.
Zilis, 38, is a Yale graduate and was listed on the 2015 edition of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list of venture capitalists. She currently serves as director of operations and special projects at Neuralink, a Musk-owned tech company that researches brain implants.
Until 2023, she was a board member at OpenAI, where she met Musk through non-profit work.
Musk’s two previous children with Zilis, born in November 2021, were uncovered in court documents by Business Insider in 2022.
It’s just the latest Canadian connection for Musk, who immigrated to Canada from South Africa at the age of 18, gaining citizenship through his Canadian-born mother and later attending Queen’s University in Kingston.
Musk married Canadian author Justine Wilson in 2000 and divorced in 2008, their relationship producing six children (five surviving).
The brash billionaire has another three children with Canadian musician Grimes, for a total of the dozen offspring that the public knows of.
Musk has publicly campaigned against declining birth rates, and is closely aligned with the “pronatalist” movement. This latest newborn suggests his public stances on the matter align with his personal life.
Last Thursday, Musk claimed that Europe is suffering from a “fertility crisis,” warning that “civilization may end with a bang or with a whimper (in adult diapers).”