Nick Cannon comments on Elon Musk's first apparent response to reports he had twins

Musk said he is doing his 'best to help the underpopulation crisis'

Elon Musk and Nick Cannon, who between them have had 17 children. EPA; AP

Elon Musk reportedly had twins with Shivon Zilis, an executive at Neuralink, one of his companies, in November.

The Insider report states that Zilis had the children weeks before Musk and his on/off partner Grimes, the musician born Claire Elise Boucher, had their second child, a daughter born via surrogacy, in December. The daughter, named Exa Dark Siderael Musk and known as Y, is a sister to X Æ A-12, 2, or "X AI Archangel", who is known as X for short.

While neither Musk, 51, nor Zilis, 36, have directly addressed claims that they have had twins, the Tesla founder has tweeted what seems to be a response to the allegations.

"Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilisation faces by far," Musk wrote on Thursday. "Mark my words, they are sadly true."

US television presenter Nick Cannon responded to Musk's tweet, writing: "Right there with you my Brother!"

Cannon, 41, has seven children and is currently expecting two more. He is father to twins Moroccan and Monroe, 11, who he had with his ex-wife, singer Mariah Carey. He also has two children with model Brittany Bell and twin sons with DJ Abby De La Rosa. He had a son named Zen with model Alyssa Scott, however, Zen died of brain cancer in December 2021, aged five months.

He is expecting a baby boy with model Bre Tiesi and another child with De La Rosa.

The birth of Musk and Zilis's twins came to light after court documents were filed to change their names so they would "have their father's last name and contain their mother's last name as part of their middle name", Insider reported.

Elon Musk's children

Including the twins, Musk has had 10 children.

Nevada, his first child with ex-wife Justine Wilson, died aged 10 weeks in 2002 of sudden infant death syndrome.

He and Wilson went on to have twins Griffin and Vivian in 2004, and triplets Kai, Saxon and Damian in 2006.

With singer Grimes, he has son X Æ A-12, born in 2020, and daughter, Exa Dark Siderael, born in 2021.

In April, one of Musk and Wilson's children filed to change her name in accordance with her new gender identity and to formally sever ties with her father. Vivian, 18, born Xavier Alexander, also sought to remove Musk from her full name, saying: “I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”

Elon Musk's professional and personal life — in pictures

Mr Musk unveils a new all-wheel-drive version of the Model S car in Hawthorne, California, in 2014. Reuters

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Getty Images

Mr Musk with music producer Quincy Jones. AFP

The wealthiest person in the world with a worth of $274.3 billion, Mr Musk was named 'Person of the Year' by 'Time' magazine in 2021. Getty Images

Focus on Mr Musk's taxes grew last year as Tesla achieved a rarefied $1 trillion in market value. Reuters

The billionaire has hit back, saying he does not draw a salary from either SpaceX or Tesla, and pays an effective tax rate of 53 per cent on stock options he exercises. AFP

Then US president Barack Obama speaks to Mr Musk on a tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2010. Reuters

Mr Musk during a television interview after Tesla's initial public offering at the Nasdaq market in New York, in 2010. Reuters

With former wife Talulah Riley at the 2011 Orange British Academy Film Awards in London. Getty Images

With Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe after a test drive of the Tesla Model S P85D in Palo Alto, California, in 2015. Reuters

Mr Musk during the 67th International Astronautics Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2016. EPA

From left: SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk, Corning chief executive Wendell Weeks, then US president Donald Trump and Johnson & Johnson chief executive Alex Gorsky during a meeting at the White House. AFP

Mr Musk and former wife Grimes at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in 2018. AFP

Mr Musk leaves a court in New York City, in 2019, after a hearing in a lawsuit brought against him by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Getty Images

A prototype of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft is seen before Mr Musk gives an update on the company's Mars rocket Starship in Boca Chica, Texas, in 2019. Reuters

Mr Musk at the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, last year. EPA

Dancing onstage during a delivery event for Tesla's China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai. Reuters

Mikey Day as a lawyer, Cecily Strong as a judge, and host Elon Musk as Wario during the "Wario" sketch on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live', in May. Getty Images

Mr Musk with Armin Laschet, CDU party federal chairman and prime minister of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, talk during a tour of the plant of the future foundry of the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide, near Berlin, Germany. Getty Images