BBC News
Elon Musk’s children have been to places many will never see.
From meetings with foreign leaders to the control room of a SpaceX launch, Musk’s children have debuted as constant sidekicks to their father’s endeavors in tech, business and now, politics.
They have made frequent appearances in the nation’s capital since President Donald Trump tapped the tech billionaire and Tesla co-founder to lead the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk’s four-year-old, “Lil X”, hung on the corner of the Resolute desk in the Oval Office on Wednesday sporting a tan pea coat and a collared shirt.
On Thursday, X and two of his siblings exchanged gifts with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while their father discussed technology and innovation with the foreign leader.
Musk has frequently been seen with his children even before coming to Washington – at a meeting with the president of Turkey, a memorial service at Auschwitz concentration camp, and a Time magazine ceremony where he was named the 2021 person of the year.
But why do Musk’s children tag along?
“The inclusion of the kids in many public appearances is very much a politician move or a political move to make him seem a bit more personable (and) take a human approach to how the public views him,” says Kurt Braddock, an American University professor of public communication.
Why bring the kids?
Still, Mr Braddock thought the decision to bring Musk’s preschooler to the Oval Office was unusual.
X appeared bored during the 30-minute press briefing as he mimicked his father, sat on the floor and received the occasional side glance and smile from the leader of the free world. At one point, it appeared he told someone in the room to “shush” their mouth.
Mr Braddock said he believes their inclusion is intentional – a distraction that benefits both Musk and Trump.
“I do think that there is a bit of a strategy here trying to draw attention to some things while diverting attention to other things,” he said.
Jon Haber, a strategic communication consultant who has worked with five presidential campaigns and teaches at Harvard, said Musk’s children making frequent appearances – and creating viral moments – is beneficial for Trump.
“For Trump, the more chaos, the more he floods the zone, the less anybody can really focus on. Chaos works for him,” Mr Haber said.
Grimes, Musk’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of X, criticised her son’s appearance in the Oval Office.
“He should not be in public like this,” she wrote in a post on X. “I did not see this… but I’m glad he was polite. Sigh.”
In a 2022 Vanity Fair article, she said that she wasn’t a fan of her son being in the spotlight.
“Whatever is going on with family stuff, I just feel like kids need to stay out of it, and X is just out there. I mean, I think E is really seeing him as a protégé and bringing him to everything and stuff.… X is out there. His situation is like that. But, yeah, I don’t know.”
Musk and his children
Long before politics, Musk allowed his children to tag along.
A decade ago, when he was still building his profile and eager to draw attention to his electric-vehicle maker Tesla, it wasn’t unusual to see them at events.
As analysts and reporters waited for one unveiling to begin at a Tesla facility in Silicon Valley in 2015, his five children could be seen running through the hallways chasing after each other and shrieking with laughter.
Despite being forced to wait for hours for attendees, the presence of Musk’s children created an atmosphere that felt relaxed and even joyous.
It was a departure from the stiff, far more formal events held by other companies for which the prospect of seeing an executive’s very young children would have come across as odd.
Musk has had 12 children with three different women.
His most-recognised son, X Æ A-12?, goes by “Lil X”, the same letter Musk used to re-name Twitter when he purchased the social media company.
The four-year-old has been dubbed an “emotional support human” by Musk himself.
Walter Isaacson, the author of Musk’s biography, said on The Diary of a CEO podcast that Musk is “deeply committed” to his children and is “almost obsessed by them”.
“With his own children, his lovers, his wives, there is the same intensity that is baked into everything he does,” Mr Isaacson said.
“He always likes having some of his children around him. He always likes having a companion, but that doesn’t mean that he likes calmness.”