Grimes Slams Ex Elon Musk for Bringing Son X Æ A-Xii to White House

An unexpected appearance by Elon Musk‘s 4-year-old son in the Oval Office has sparked criticism from the child’s mother, musician Grimes. The Tesla CEO brought X Æ A-Xii to witness President Donald Trump sign an executive order on Feb. 11, leading to an impromptu father-son moment that played out in front of national media.

During the high-profile meeting about the Department of Government Efficiency, X Æ A-Xii was seen making faces and grabbing at his father, eventually climbing onto Musk’s shoulders. The 53-year-old entrepreneur apologized to reporters, saying, “Sorry for this. I thought my son might enjoy this, but he’s sticking his fingers in my ears and stuff, so it’s been hard to hear sometimes.” At one point, Musk had to pause, saying “Ok, X,” while putting his hands on his son’s face and laughing.

Grimes, 36, learned of her son’s White House appearance through social media when an X user commented on her unrelated post: “Lil X was very polite today! You raised him well. He was so cute when he told DJT, ‘please forgive me, I need to pee.’” The singer responded swiftly: “He should not be in public like this. I did not see this, thank u for alerting me. But I’m glad he was polite. Sigh.”

The incident comes amid ongoing tensions between the former couple. In November 2024, Grimes detailed their difficult custody battle, writing on X, “Spent a year locked in battle in a state with terrible mothers rights having my instagram posts and modeling used as reasons I shouldn’t have my kids and fighting and detaching from the love of my life as he becomes unrecognizable to me, with a fraction of his resources (or iq/ strategy experience).” She revealed she hadn’t seen one of her babies for five months during this period.

The singer has increasingly distanced herself from her ex-partner’s public controversies. Following Musk’s controversial one-armed gesture in January that some compared to a Nazi salute, Grimes defended her position of silence: “It’s absurd that someone can be this cancelled for something their ex did before they even heard it happened. I am not him. I will not make a statement every time he does something. I can only send love back into a world that is hurting.”

The former couple, who began dating in 2018 and had an on-again-off-again relationship for years, share three children together: X Æ A-Xii, 4, Exa Dark Sideræl, 3, and Tau Techno Mechanicus, 2. Musk, who now heads both Tesla and X (formerly Twitter), which he purchased in 2022, has fathered 12 children in total.

Despite the public nature of their disputes, Grimes maintains her focus on their children’s wellbeing. “I could go talk s— and be on a bunch of magazine covers and be a feminist hero and get clout – but it would serve no purpose,” she wrote. “I choose my children’s wellbeing.”