Ashley St. Clair has spoken out about the alleged hush-money offer she rejected from Elon Musk’s camp.
The 28-year-old former right-wing influencer, who shares 10-month-old son Romulus with the billionaire, told reporters at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday that she was offered $40 million to remain silent about Musk in Alex Gibney’s forthcoming documentary “Musk.” The four-hour film premiered at the festival and opens in theaters on Oct. 16.
“When you’re offered something like that [to stay quiet], it really causes a debate in your head about what your speech means and how valuable that is and why do they want to offer me this amount of money to not speak?” she said, per People.
St. Clair detailed the alleged arrangement during a June interview on the “Don Lemon Show” podcast. She claimed Musk’s wealth manager, Jared Birchall, presented her with a non-disclosure agreement after an initial message from Musk himself.
“Originally, Elon had sent a message to me and Jared that said, ‘Wire Ashley $15 million for a home and reserve capital,’ and that was it,” she stated. “A few days later, Jared has this two-hour-long phone call with me, where he’s [saying] basically there’s going to have to be some sort of NDA.”
The offer reportedly escalated to $15 million plus $100,000 per month for 20 years if she kept quiet about their relationship. St. Clair refused.
“[I was] making the moral decision,” she continued. “I had said to him, ‘I would rather go to a studio apartment with both of my children than sign this.'”
The documentary will examine Musk’s sprawling personal and professional life, including the 14 children he has with four partners and his business empire spanning Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink. The 55-year-old acquired X, formerly Twitter, in 2022 and has since used the platform to amplify his political views, including support for Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland party.
St. Clair took aim at Musk’s X activity when asked whether she believed he feared civil war or was trying to fuel one.
“Whatever it is, what he’s doing with this platform on X cannot be ignored, because he is stoking flames that don’t exist in the real world,” she fired back. “He is creating something that is causing real world effects with all of these inputs on X.”
She pressed further on the potential consequences of his online conduct. “I do believe that he is causing deliberate division that may be catastrophic if it’s not regulated or tamed, or if we don’t do our part in putting it down,” she added.
The custody situation between St. Clair and Musk remains unresolved. She sued the businessman for sole custody of Romulus in February 2025. Musk had tweeted in January that he was seeking full custody after she allegedly expressed support for the trans community.
Musk’s family extends across three other partners: Justine Wilson, Grimes, and Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis. His children include Nevada, Vivian, Griffin, Kai, Saxon, Damian, X Æ A-12, Exa, Strider, Azure, Techno, Arcadia and Seldon Lycurgus.
The “legion of children before the civil war” text message allegedly came ahead of Romulus’s 2024 birth. St. Clair’s participation in Gibney’s documentary suggests she will discuss co-parenting challenges and the ongoing legal battle alongside the alleged financial overtures from Musk’s representatives.
The filmmaker’s production tracks Musk’s previous close alliance with President Trump alongside his corporate ventures and expanding family.
St. Clair’s rejection of the NDA and her public statements at Venice position her as a rare vocal critic among Musk’s former partners, most of whom have maintained silence about their relationships with the world’s wealthiest individual.
The documentary “Musk” opens in theaters on Oct. 16.