Ashley St. Clair slams Elon Musk: ‘Can’t be counted on’ as father; says lawsuit is ‘about protecting child's interests’

Four days after filing a paternity and custody lawsuit against tech billionaire Elon Musk, alleging his absence from their alleged child's life and seeking to prioritise the child's best interests, a spokesperson for Ashley St. Clair stressed that the case is not driven by financial motives.

Allegations of neglect

"This has never been about money for Ashley," the spokesperson told PEOPLE on Tuesday. "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."

The spokesperson, according to the report, further criticised Musk’s online presence, stating, "Mr. Musk spends more time on his own social media platform talking about his children’s mothers than talking to them. We tried to handle this collaboratively with Mr. Musk, but it takes both a father and a mother to do that, and he refused all conversations."

Paternity lawsuit filed

"Ashley St. Clair has filed paternity and custody petitions to protect the best interests of her child," Ashley St. Clair's representative told PEOPLE in a statement on February 21. "She has made every effort to collaborate with Mr. Musk before taking this step. She has no further comment on the contents of the petitions, which speak for themselves."

Social media controversy

The case has drawn attention on social media, with YouTuber Zach Nelson, known as Jerry Rig Everything, criticising Musk for allegedly neglecting his parental responsibilities.

"Abandons a 5-month-old. Won't pay child support for another 3. And leaves the shield behind at major event..." Nelson reportedly posted on X.

Musk responded to the claims, calling Nelson "an utter liar."

"I have always paid extremely generous child support and without any coercion to do so," Musk posted. “Sometimes the mother asked for money vastly in excess of what the children could possibly need, so that needed to be adjudicated.”

Claims of minimal contact

According to the petition, as per PEOPLE, St. Clair alleged Musk has only seen the child, identified as R.S.C., three times since his birth in September 2024. She claimed Musk first met the child in New York City on September 21 for two hours, followed by another one-hour visit the next day. The third and final alleged visit took place on November 30 in Austin, Texas, lasting only 30 minutes.

Request for DNA test

St. Clair claimed, as per the news outlet, that she and Musk were in a "romantic relationship" starting in May 2023, and that she conceived R.S.C. in January 2024. She asserted Musk "acknowledged parentage of the child in various written correspondences" and included multiple text messages as evidence in her legal filing.

Among the alleged messages, Musk reportedly texted St. Clair in November 2024, stating, "I want to knock you up again," followed by another message three months later saying, "Well, we do have a legion of kids to make."

St. Clair wrote in the filing, as per PageSix, that she was certain Musk was the child’s father saying she “did not have sexual intercourse with any other male during the time.”

St. Clair has requested that Musk undergo DNA testing to confirm paternity.

Musk’s expanding family

If confirmed, the child with St. Clair would bring Musk’s total number of children to 13.

Musk shares three children with musician Grimes, six children with his ex-wife Justine Wilson—one of whom died in infancy—and three children with Shivon Zilis, an executive at one of his companies.

Musk has not publicly responded to St. Clair’s latest allegations.