Where Musk Goes, So Goes His 3-Year-Old Boy

If you see a photo of Elon Musk these days, chances are you'll also see his 3-year-old son X—full name X Æ A-Xii. Musk often carts around the boy to various events, often to media praise. For example, X "stole the show" at a recent New York City premiere, in the words of Page Six. And a story at People lauded the father-son "quality time" at a Grand Prix event in Texas. But at Intelligencer, Irin Carmon casts a more critical eye. At the aforementioned premiere, for example, X did indeed look "adorable," she writes. But Musk's "message, intentional or otherwise, was clear: This was not the erratic, share-tanking s---poster you've heard about, but a cuddly dad who has it all."

• In her analysis, Carmon writes that the cuddliness factor "obscures the fact that one of the world's richest men is ensuring that his young son is photographed constantly, reportedly against his mother's will, while seemingly denying him the routine and socialization of a healthy childhood." The boy's mother is singer Grimes, who has two other children with Musk. In interviews, she has not seemed thrilled with X being in such a public spotlight.
• Why would Musk do this? "A read of the public record suggests Musk's behavior is at once a calculated attempt to soften his own image, an intense attachment to this particular child, and, per RadarOnline's reporting of Grimes' legal filings, a willingness to use X as a pawn in their custody dispute." Read Carmon's full piece, which digs into the details.
• Musk has 11 children with three different women, and Today has a breakdown of who's who. Musk is famously a big proponent of people having lots of children, to (in his view) save civilization. He has tweeted that X is his "emotional support human."

(More Elon Musk stories.)