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Elon Musk and Ashley St. Clair both skipped showing to Manhattan court Thursday as their lawyers negotiated child support in an ongoing bitter custody battle over custody of their 2-year-old son, Romulus.
Neither Musk, 55, nor his ex St. Clair, 28, were present for the afternoon hearing; however at least three attorneys for the Tesla boss trillionaire got into settlement talks with a trio of St. Clair’s lawyers.
“I’m just being cautiously optimistic. The judge himself is very gracious,” a source on Musk’s side familiar with the case told The New York Post.
The source said St. Clair was seeking an “astronomical” settlement payout from Musk and noted the lawyers were due back in court next week “to try to close it out.”
The Tesla founder — who has 14 children — and St. Clair have been embroiled in a custody battle since early last year.
St. Clair sued Musk for sole custody of Romulus in February 2025, and later claimed that he “substantially” reduced his child support payments.
The former conservative political commentator also alleged Musk offered her $15 million to keep their child a secret.
Musk, in turn, announced in January he was seeking full custody of his 13th child after St. Clair allegedly expressed her support for the trans community.
In June, St. Clair claimed she turned down a $40 million NDA, as well as $15 million and $100,000 per month for 20 years, that required her to stay silent about the pair’s relationship.
St. Clair, who has an older child from a previous relationship, said on the “Don Lemon Show” that she didn’t sign the NDA because it “wasn’t what was right for [her] children.”
“[I was] making the moral decision,” she explained. “I had said to him, ‘I would rather go to a studio apartment with both of my children than sign this.’”
St. Clair previously claimed that she met Musk on X, which he bought in 2022, and said he initially came off as “very funny” and “very down to earth.”
“He was responding to my posts frequently. One day, he responded to one of my Mother’s Day posts [and said] that I should have more children,” she said in the new documentary, “Musk,” adding that the businessman dubbed himself a “good dad” and appeared to have an “amicable” relationship with the mothers of his children.
But as St. Clair described on TikTok in May, “things started getting weird” between her and Musk when she became pregnant.
“There’s just things that are not adding up or that are different from what he previously said to me,” she shared.
In addition to St. Clair, Musk has fathered children with ex-wife Justine Wilson, singer Grimes and Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis.
His and Wilson’s child, Nevada Alexander, died at 10 weeks old of sudden infant syndrome (SIDS) in 2002.