'He Became Unrecognisable': Grimes Accuses Elon Musk of Using Her Instagram and Modeling to Take Her Kids

Elon Musk's long‑running custody dispute with Canadian musician Grimes has quietly wrapped up in the United States, drawing a bruising chapter in their relationship to a close just as the Tesla chief celebrates his 56th birthday and his disputed status as a 'trillionaire.' The custody battle, centred on their three young children X Æ A-12, Exa Dark Sideræl and Techno Mechanicus, formally ended at the close of 2024, according to court records.

For context, the ruling capped six years of a relationship that veered from red carpet glamour to online spats and ultimately to a courtroom fight over parental rights. The pair began dating in 2018, had their first child in 2020 and separated in 2022, yet they have remained entangled legally and emotionally ever since, with a custody case that Grimes described as leaving her 'ripped apart.'

The entrepreneur, now 56, and the singer, 38, went public in May 2018, appearing together at the Met Gala shortly after rumours surfaced of a romance sparked, fittingly, by a shared joke about artificial intelligence. From the outset, friends were already warning it was a wild ride. One source said the couple had 'experienced a lot of ups and downs' and had been 'on and off,' even as they insisted they would stay close.

By January 2020, Grimes confirmed she was pregnant. Two months later, in an interview, she publicly named Musk as the father. Their son, known as X, arrived that spring, instantly becoming internet shorthand for the sheer oddity of modern celebrity baby names.

From Public Spats to Public Break‑Up

The news came after a series of online flashpoints that laid bare the strain between Grimes and Elon Musk, even while they still presented as a couple. In July 2020, Musk posted 'pronouns suck' on X, then Twitter, triggering a backlash that cut through their household too. Grimes replied publicly: 'I love you but please turn off ur phone or give me a [call]. I cannot support hate. Please stop this. I know this isn't your ♡.'

It was a rare moment of real‑time disagreement between two people whose lives were usually curated through stylised photoshoots and glossy profiles. Yet by April 2021, she was back defending Musk on TikTok after users labelled him a 'men's rights activist,' pointing out that the president of SpaceX and a senior figure at Neuralink were women.

The détente did not last. In September 2021, Musk told reporters they had 'semi‑separated' after three years together, though he insisted they 'still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms.' Within days, Grimes released the song Love, with the line: 'It f****** sucks to be awake / Oh, Lord, I pray my soul to take. Nobody understands because everything they hate is everything I love.' It did not sound like two people on 'great terms.'

The following March, a Vanity Fair profile revealed they had quietly welcomed a second child, daughter Exa Dark Sideræl, via surrogate in December 2021. Grimes described Musk as her 'boyfriend' but said the relationship was 'very fluid.' They lived in separate houses and told the magazine they were 'best friends' who saw each other 'all the time.'

Within hours of the piece being published, Grimes posted online that they had split again. The public only later learned that a third child, son Techno Mechanicus, had also been born.

Inside the Former Couple's Custody Battle

It can be recalled that the tone shifted decisively in 2023 when Grimes filed a petition in a US court to 'establish parental relationship' with Elon Musk, the first step in securing formal custody and support orders. According to reports, the petition and said she was seeking to clarify her legal rights over X, now six, and the younger two children, both four.

By 2024, Grimes was airing the emotional cost of the case in blunt posts to X. She told followers she had not seen one of her children for 'five months,' blaming a legal battle in 'a state with terrible mother's rights.' IBTimes UK could not independently verify this claim, so take everything lightly.

In one striking message, she wrote: 'Having babies rips you apart and puts you back together. Babies are ten thousand philosophy classes of s- you can only learn from that experience.' She then accused unnamed parties of using her career and persona against her: 'Having my Instagram posts and modelling 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).'

The allegation that Grimes's Instagram and modelling work were cited in arguments over custody has not been detailed in public court filings. No comprehensive judgment has been released, and both parents have stayed largely silent on specifics since the case concluded at the end of 2024. Lawyers for Musk and Grimes have not commented, leaving her social media posts as the main glimpse into what was said behind closed doors, which is hardly ideal but is all anyone outside the courtroom has.

Court records confirm only that the petition was lodged and then resolved. They do not state who has primary custody or what arrangements were agreed for travel, schooling or public appearances. That last issue has become a flashpoint in itself.

Children, Politics and a Relationship That Keeps Spilling Into Public

Even after the custody case ended, Elon Musk continued to bring their children into highly public, and increasingly political, settings. The Tesla mogul was later seen bringing X into a live White House meeting with Donald Trump, without warning Grimes, according to reports. For a child whose name became a meme at birth, it was another round of scrutiny he could not possibly have chosen.

It is also worth noting that Musk's wider family life remains complicated. He has several other children with previous partners and has faced separate tensions there, although those disputes have not all spilled into court in the way his relationship with Grimes has.

What distinguishes this saga is how often it has unfolded in full view, on platforms Musk himself owns. A couple that started as a clever AI joke on social media ended up litigating the boundaries of motherhood and celebrity on the same feeds, while one of them ran the platform's parent company and the other complained she was fighting him with 'a fraction of his resources.'

There is no neat way to tie up what that does to trust, or to three small children, as their father celebrates both his 56th birthday and a much‑disputed trillionaire label. The legal chapter may be over, but the story is not.