After the interview, Musk said on X that his child was born “gay and slightly autistic,” claiming that these traits “contribute to his gender dysphoria.” Wilson fired back in a thread soon after, dismissing her father’s account of his childhood as “totally fake.” She accused him of promoting harmful stereotypes about transgender and queer people in an attempt to “score sympathy points.”
“My dad doesn’t know what I was like as a child because he wasn’t there,” Wilson said in one post, and when he was there, he “relentlessly harassed” her for her “femininity and queerness.”
Washington Post reporters called and texted Wilson’s phone number but received no response. Musk did not respond. An email seeking comment was sent to The Washington Post.
The spat marks a rare public spat between Wilson and Musk. Wilson’s complaints about Musk’s gender transition have been at the heart of Musk’s well-publicized political shift to the right. In recent years, Musk has drawn support from prominent conservatives like Tucker Carlson, spoken out against corporate diversity initiatives and amplified the views of right-wing commentators on social media.
That political shift seemed to be solidified this month when Musk announced his support for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
On her social media platform, X, she has made a series of comments criticising gender pronouns, sparking backlash from people close to her.
“I fully support trans people but these pronouns are an aesthetic nightmare,” Musk wrote in late 2020. After tweeting “pronouns are the worst” earlier that year, Musk was told by his then-partner Grimes to “stop” and “I can’t support hate,” news outlets reported.
In his interview with Peterson, Musk spoke about the gender-reassignment treatment Wilson underwent, including puberty-suppressing drugs: as “child mutilation and sterilization.”
Musk also told Peterson that allowing children to change their gender identity is “incredibly evil” and that people who advocate for gender reassignment care for young people “should go to jail.”
Vivian is one of six children the billionaire has with author Justin Wilson, as well as three with musician Grimes and three with Sivon Gillis, an executive at Musk’s Neuralink company.
Many states ban gender-reassignment treatments for transgender minors, and a Washington Post/KFF poll found that a majority of Americans oppose puberty-blocking drugs or hormone treatments for transgender children, though the American Psychological Association said access to such treatments is improving. The overall wellbeing of young people.
Puberty blockers block the release of sex hormones. When a patient stops taking the blockers, the body quickly goes back to producing puberty hormones.
Musk used the word “sterilization,” Doctors who treat transgender patients say puberty suppressants alone do not cause infertility: They have been used for years to treat children with precocious puberty and “are always reversible,” said Marcy Bowers, a leading U.S. sex-change surgeon and president of the World Association of Transgender Medical Specialists.
However, patient outcomes vary depending on when patients start taking the inhibitors, whether they also take cross-sex hormones, and how long they take the drugs.
After his interview with Peterson, Musk was criticized for “deadnaming” his children, or calling them by their birth names and genders. People who refuse to use the pronouns used by transgender and gender-expansive youth. According to the Human Rights Campaign, pronouns are a common and devastating issue for young people, with half of young people saying their family “never” calls them by their correct pronouns.
Musk was criticized by LGBTQ+ advocates this year for saying that the terms “cis” and “cisgender” are offensive in the X sense. Users are allowed to misgender others on the platform as a matter of “free speech.”
“LGBTQ+ young people are often negatively impacted by hostile political rhetoric that targets them, including from prominent figures like Elon Musk,” said Jared Todd, senior spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign.
“Musk could have used his public presence for good, but instead he chose to scapegoat transgender young people,” Todd said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post on Friday. “Given his history, it is both sad and unsurprising.”
Todd said HRC has criticized Musk in recent years for policies that have made SpaceX “a place where harmful speech and bullying can thrive unchecked.” He cited Musk’s recent decision to move SpaceX and its headquarters out of California in protest of a new state law that bars school districts from requiring parents to notify them of their child’s change of gender identity.
“Musk’s ignorant and inflammatory views toward the transgender community, even his own daughter, are out of line with the views of the majority of Americans and have left a permanent stain on his character and reputation,” Todd said.
In his first public interview with NBC on Thursday, Wilson said he and Musk had been estranged for some time – Wilson severed his formal relationship with Musk more than two years ago.
“I no longer live with my biological father and no longer wish to be associated with him in any way,” Wilson said in a petition filed in April 2022 in California Superior Court seeking to officially change her name.
Wilson’s backlash against her father has garnered support online, including from musician Grimes, who has a child with the Tesla CEO.
“I love Vivienne and will always be proud of her,” Grimes said in a post on X on Thursday.
