Justine Musk, Elon Musk’s ex-wife, says she is’very pleased’ of their 18-year-old son for completing paperwork to change his name and gender from Xavier Musk to Vivian Jenna Wilson.
Musk and Justine were married from 2000 to 2008 and had five children, including Vivian, who is 18 years old.
‘I no longer live with or desire to be associated to my biological father in any manner, shape, or form,’ Xavier said in a Santa Monica court filing on April 18.
When asked what gender she prefers, she picked ‘female.’
Musk has not yet commented on the paperwork. In a tweet on Monday night, Justine said: “I had a weird childhood,” my 18 year old said to me.
“I can’t believe I’m as normal-seeming as I am.” ‘I said, “I’m very proud of you.” “I’m proud of myself!”‘
Justine’s tweet comes as controversial past remarks by Elon about transgender issues resurfaced in light of the announcement.
The billionaire has previously poked fun at the pregnant man emoji, and he said: ‘Pronouns suck.’
Vivian filed the paperwork three days after her 18th birthday, but it only became public on Monday, the day after Fathers Day. Neither she nor her twin brother Griffin have been seen publicly recently.
From 2000 until 2008, Musk was married to Vivian’s mother, Canadian novelist Justine Wilson. Nevada, their first son, was born in 2002 and died at the age of ten weeks from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The couple went on to conceive twin sons, Xavier and Griffin, as well as triplet boys, Damian, Kai, and Saxon, all of whom are now 16 years old.
Despite their father’s joint custody, the five teenagers have kept a low profile. Musk also has two additional children with Canadian singer Grimes, X A-Xii and Exa Dark Siderael, who goes by Y.
It is unclear what is behind Xavier’s rejected of their father, in such a public way. Musk has yet to comment, and it is unclear if he was aware of Xavier’s plan prior to the court documents being filed.
Musk’s first wife, Justine, is the mother of five of his seven children.
Musk has been outspoken on transgender issues, and last year he expressed displeasure with those who use their own pronouns. He also stated that he was a supporter of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been chastised by the LGBTQ community for his law prohibiting children in kindergarten through third grade from discussing gender identity and homosexuality in the classroom.
After a new Ricky Gervais stand-up comedy special was criticized for being ‘transphobic,’ Musk called out ‘virtual signaling’ detractors last week.
The stand-up special on Netflix, ‘Supernature’, was also criticized for Gervais’s jokes about racism, identity politics and Hitler.
Still, many who watched Gervais’ show tweeted about how much they enjoyed it, and on Sunday, The Atlantic staff writer Conor Friedersdorf tweeted a screenshot from movie rating site Rotten Tomatoes showing that 92 per cent of the more than 250 people who watched the special rated it well.
At the same time, though, only 14 percent of seven professional critics gave the stand-up routine a high rating.
In response, Musk wrote: ‘The “critics” seek not to critique, but rather to virtue signal. They are out of touch with the people, and so lose their credibility with the people.’
Meanwhile in April, Twitter employees lashed out over Musk’s deal to acquire the company in a $44 billion deal, accusing the world’s richest man of bigotry.
Staffers at an ‘impromptu’ all-hands meeting fired angry questions at executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, who was described as looking tired and at times annoyed.
Musk was portrayed as anti-gay and anti-transgender by one employee at the meeting, who expressed concern that his ownership might stymie efforts to recruit new personnel.
‘What should we tell the LGTBQ community at recruitment conferences we’re planning to attend when they ask us why they should come work at Twitter given we just sold ourselves to an open homophobe and transphobe?’ the worker wondered.
‘I cannot speak to Elon’s personal thoughts on these matters,’ Brand said gently, avoiding agreeing with that judgment of Musk. In terms of people’s experiences, I can’t comment to what he’s done in his previous enterprises.’
‘Perhaps we’ll be able to speak again in the future.’ ‘That may be revealing,’ she continued.
Musk has also complained about people using their own pronouns, leading Chasten Buttigieg – the husband of Pete Buttigieg, transport secretary – to reply: ‘I hear your frustration, sweetie. See me after class and we can go over the worksheet again.’
He said he was a fan of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has been condemned by the LGBTQ community for his so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which prevents discussion of gender identity and homosexuality in classrooms of young children.
Last week, in response to an article discussing whether the question ‘What is a woman’ was legitimate, Musk tweeted: ‘We are simultaneously being told that gender differences do not exist and that genders are so profoundly different that irreversible surgery is the only option.
‘Perhaps someone wiser than me can explain this dichotomy.’
He then added: ‘It is a better world if we are all less judgy.’
Musk has also insisted he is totally pro-LGBT rights, and cites Tesla’s constant top marks in lists of the best places for LGBT people to work as evidence of his open-mindedness.
Meanwhile WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning, 34 has slammed Musk as a bastion of right-wing politics, and said he ‘seemed transphobic’ when he tweeted a meme poking fun at Netflix after it was reported that Canadian singer Grimes, 34, and Manning were in a relationship.
Manning has not confirmed or denied that she and Grimes, Elon’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of two of his children, were at any time romantically linked.
‘The one thing I will say is: he around that time definitely seemed transphobic, and rumor or speculation aside, that’s off-limits. I’m going to respond to it. Any transphobia in a transphobic environment is not OK,’ she said of the Tesla CEO.
Musk tweeted a meme which read: ‘Netflix waiting for the war to end to make a movie about a black Ukraine guy falls in love with a transgender soldier.’
The meme was savaged by left-wing Twitter users.
Grimes began dating Musk in May 2018, and in May 2020 she gave birth to their son, X AE A-XII, known as X.
In December 2021 Musk and Grimes welcomed a daughter born via surrogate, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, known as Y.
In August, Grimes and Musk visited Florence, Italy, with at least three of his five teenage sons, but it was not clear if Xavier was among them.
The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday.
