Contrary to popular belief, Elon Musk is not technically the “father” or founder of Tesla. That distinction goes to Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. The tech mogul made a huge investment in the company and is the CEO, hence the reason for the misconception. However, the 52-year-old is an actual father who recently welcomed his 12th child into the world.

Elon Musk has fathered numerous children, making sure to stay out of the spotlight when possible. As such, many were surprised to learn that he quietly welcomed his twelfth child earlier this year. However, the gender and name of the child remain unknown to the public.

Despite his reputation for keeping his personal life private, Elon Musk has denied any intentional secrecy. “As for ‘begotten in secret,’ that’s also false,” Elon Musk commented. “All of our friends and family know about it. Just because there’s no press release issued, which would be odd, doesn’t mean it’s a ‘secret.’”

The boy’s mother is Shivon Zilis, a director of special projects at Neuralink Corp. Although Musk is not the founder of Tesla, he did launch Neuralink Corp. on June 21, 2016. The neurotechnology company is developing “implantable brain-computer interfaces” and implanted the first “neural chip” earlier this year. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful and the company still has some things to work out.

Meanwhile, Musk is enjoying a quiet life out of the public eye with his children. His journey to fatherhood began in 2002. Sadly, his first child, Nevada Alexander, passed away from SIDS at ten weeks old. Although he and his now ex-wife Justine Wilson suffered a significant loss, they had twins two years later and later had children with Canadian singer Claire Elise Boucher, better known by her stage name, GRIMES.

In 2021, Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis welcomed twins Azure and Strider. Meanwhile, several of his children have been the product of IVF and surrogacy. Interestingly, he has made numerous headlines for his strange obsession with letters instead of names, his overwhelming desire to seemingly play with money, and most recently, for taking on an “advisory” role for Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the public was speculating whether or not he is competing with Nick Cannon for being the father of the most children.

“Are Elon and Nick Cannon competing?” one Internet user jokingly asked.

“Nick, you have 24 hours to respond!” commented another.

Additionally, a 2015 biography written by Ashlee Vance uncovers Elon Musk’s complex childhood and early years. He was born in South Africa in 1971, and his parents divorced when he was eight years old. Musk is described as a “nerdy guy” who spent most of his time reading. Unfortunately, he gained a reputation as a “know-it-all” and struggled to fit in among his peers.

After his parents divorced, Elon Musk chose to live with his father Errol, despite spending his early years with his mother and siblings at their “vacation home on the east coast of South Africa.” While Vance highlights Musk’s hesitation to talk about his father, he notes that Errol was “difficult to deal with” and “inflicted psychological torture on him.”

Elon Musk was destined for great things, having discovered a fascination with computers at the age of 10. He is self-taught in programming and sold his first product: a video game called “Blastar.” Tired of being bullied at school, Musk began practicing karate and wrestling when he was 15.

At 17, Elon Musk attended Queen’s University in Canada for two years before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned two bachelor’s degrees: one in physics from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and another in economics from the Wharton School. His diverse background laid the groundwork for his groundbreaking ventures in technology and space exploration. In 1995, Musk briefly enrolled in a PhD program at Stanford University, but dropped out after two days to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities in the tech industry. This bold decision eventually led to success at companies like Zip2, PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX.