Ashley St. Clair is tired of hearing people ask the same questions about Elon Musk over and over again. "People treat me like I'm some kind of Elon psychoanalyst," he said during a visit to The New York Times in September.
“They want to know, ‘What’s it like to spend time with him?’ or they say, ‘Not many people have spent time alone with him.’” She sighed. "It's irritating and tiring."
You can't blame them for asking. St. Clair, a former conservative influencer, gave birth to one of Musk's children in 2024. (At the time, she already had another son, from a previous relationship.) This year, she is a key figure in "Musk," Alex Gibney's nearly four-hour documentary about the world's first trillionaire, and has more pressing questions to raise.
"This speaks to a deeper rot in our society, in which we equate capital with morality," he said. "There is a level of trust, both social and individual, that we place in people when they have money."
Musk did not respond to requests for comment. After TMZ reported that St. Clair had rejected a $40 million confidentiality agreement, Musk responded on his social platform, X (formerly Twitter), stating, "This was never offered to her as she has a history of lying." He also condemned Gibney's documentary in another X post: "Gibney simply assembled a list of people who either have a score to settle or don't even know me."
Gibney, an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker for "A Taxi to Darkness," met St. Clair in December 2025. "In addition to Musk's obsession with having children, Ashley had an insider's view of the 2024 campaign and was able to tell me things I didn't know about Musk's motivations," he said in an email. Below, St. Clair presents his side of the story.
Were you at all nervous about the idea of being in the film?
No. I was familiar with some of Alex's documentaries, like "Going Clear." I liked the fact that he wasn't afraid. He has a history of treating facts and narratives with respect.
You watched the movie. How did you feel when you saw him?
What was both comforting and terrifying was the way the narratives harmonized. Myself, Justine [Wilson, Musk's first wife], Sam Harris [the New Atheism philosopher], and Geoffrey Hinton [the so-called godfather of AI]—there are many similarities in our experiences with Elon. I think that when you can bring together people who have never spoken to each other and make their stories form a coherent narrative, that is the truth.
What was your life like when you met Musk, in 2023?
I worked at a conservative news site, The Babylon Bee, and was a single mother. He also had a public image, mainly on Twitter, where he repeated MAGA (Make America Great Again) speeches. Elon started following me on Twitter and got into my private messages.
How did you feel when he started following you?
I don't think people understand how many eyes were on everyone Elon interacted with at that time. I started getting messages from MAGA people saying "Congratulations!" Immediately, there were those who said: "She will be the next mother of his child." I was about to turn 24 years old.
And when did you meet in person for the first time?
We were messaging each other privately on Twitter, and during an interview with the Bee, he asked, "Do you feel like going to Providence, Rhode Island?" In less than an hour, I was on his plane. In Providence, we shared a hotel room, and he fell asleep listening to a podcast about Kublai Khan. Everything was very surreal.
Did it feel like a romantic relationship?
I would say there was an emotional intimacy. We kept in touch every day. But I also never thought, "I'm the chosen one." At the time, he was seen as this savior of freedom of expression, and I was very involved in all of that. I would say there was also a bit of idolatry.
When did you start talking about having a child together?
In January 2024, we went to St. Barth for a vacation and he said, "You should have ten kids! Let's have one kid. My only limited resource is time."
What did this mean to you?
I wanted to have more children, so that meant I would always be able to afford to take care of them. Furthermore, within MAGA, being a single mother was seen as a stain on one's character. So, having this stalwart of the right validating this choice so much meant a lot to me.
Did you have any questions?
Only when I got pregnant and followed the custody dispute between Elon and Grimes [who have three children together]. It made me think, "I need to protect myself."
When did you receive the confidentiality agreement?
I was two months postpartum. Jared Birchall, Elon's financial manager and henchman, sent the document in a temporary message on Signal. We didn't have a formal financial agreement, so at that point, receiving the confidentiality agreement felt like, "If you want any kind of support, sign this."
I understand. They were saying, "If you want support, sign this." What were the terms of the agreement?
I could never talk about Elon or anything related to our relationship, and those terms would apply to my heirs as well. I could tell our son who his father was, but I couldn't tell my other son or anyone else. He offered a one-time payment of $15 million and then $100,000 a month for 21 years.
But you decided not to sign.
For me, it was more of a moral issue than a legal one. I told Jared I couldn't sign, and he responded, "Why? It sounds like you want to use your freedom of speech as a weapon." I told him that my children's dignity is not a commodity.
Did Musk ever talk to you about the confidentiality agreement?
No.
And now you're an important voice in Gibney's documentary.
People need to understand that part of the reason I'm so prominent in the documentary is that other people can't speak. I think we shouldn't lose sight of that. I don't want to have to speak publicly. I don't want to be doing this interview right now. But there is a web of confidentiality agreements. I feel I have a moral obligation to talk about my experience.
Let's talk about your departure from MAGA. When did this start?
It happened slowly and then all at once. There were moments when I didn't accept the things I was witnessing — the misogyny, the racism —, but I was a coward.
What would you say to people who think, "She's only turning left because the right rejected her"?
I'm not stupid. I knew what would happen when I stood against Elon, and I accepted that. There is a video from before I got pregnant in which I say that I am not conservative. So, there were already times when it was possible to notice these ruptures with the conservative establishment.
You have posted many transphobic, racist and misogynistic comments. Did other people pay the price for the public image you built?
I think about it all the time. I recently received a notification about hospitals that were ending gender-affirming treatments. When I read that, I felt immense remorse. I know this probably would have happened without me, but I still feel guilty about the role I played.
