Elon Musk's daughter claims he uses sex-selective IVF to ensure male children; Here's what we know about the procedure

Reeve might be Elon Musk’s middle name by birth, but ‘controversy’ seems to be a more fitting one for the Senior Advisor to the President of the United States.
This time, the tech mogul has become the center of attention as his estranged daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, recently slammed him for allegedly using sex-selective IVF for his kids.

Vivian Jenna Wilson, the transgender daughter of Elon Musk, has slammed her "disowned" father for allegedly using sex-selective IVF for his kids. The 20-year-old, in a scathing thread, claimed her "assigned sex at birth was a commodity that was bought and paid for." She claimed that he had used sex-selective IVF to conceive her, and her coming out as a transgender woman had gone against his plans.
Vivian Jenna Wilson has previously criticized the tech mogul on multiple occasions, including a pointed remark in 2024 when Elon Musk said she was "dead."

Taking to Threads, Vivian put her father on blast, claiming that Musk used sex-selective IVF for her and his other numerous kids. Vivian happened to ask how it is even legal to use sex-selective IVF. “How the f**k is it legal!"
The 20-year-old added, “My assigned sex at birth was a commodity that was bought and paid for. So when I was feminine as a child and then turned out to be transgender, I was going against the product that was sold. That expectation of masculinity that I had to rebel against all my life was a monetary transaction. A monetary transaction. A MONETARY TRANSACTION."

Although Elon Musk has yet to respond to his daughter’s claims, he was described as having “an engineering approach to reproduction” as per a Forbes report from 2022, which also confirmed that at least five of his children had been conceived via IVF. All five children were assigned male at birth.
Of those children, at least the first five were conceived via IVF, all of whom were assigned male at birth, per a 2022 report from Forbes, which also described Musk as taking “an engineering approach to reproduction.”
The report had raised questions regarding Musk's use of IVF as well, asking, “Were his first babies selected to be male at the preimplantation stage?”


Sex-selective IVF, or gender selection through in vitro fertilization, involves using reproductive technologies like preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) to determine and select the sex of an embryo before implantation, allowing couples to choose the gender of their baby.
Here's a more detailed explanation:
How it works:
IVF Process: The process begins with the standard IVF procedure, where eggs are retrieved from the woman and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory.
Embryo Biopsy: After a few days of development, a small number of cells (3-6) are taken from each embryo (at the blastocyst stage) for genetic testing.
Genetic Testing (PGT): The cells are analyzed to determine the sex of the embryo (XX for female, XY for male).
Embryo Selection: Couples can then choose which embryos to transfer based on their desired gender. Only embryos of the desired sex are selected for transfer to the uterus, ensuring the parents have a child of their preferred gender.
Reasons for Sex Selection: While some couples choose sex selection for non-medical reasons, it can also be used to avoid transmitting X-linked genetic disorders, where one parent carries a gene that primarily affects one sex.
Ethical Considerations: The practice of sex selection for non-medical reasons raises ethical concerns about gender bias and potentially reinforcing societal stereotypes.
Although sex-selective IVF offers the possibility of choosing a child's gender, it carries the same risks as standard IVF, including Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS), ectopic pregnancy, and potential complications during egg retrieval or embryo transfer, along with the possibility of multiple births.

While sex-selective IVF is legal in the United States, it is controversial due to the contested ethics of choosing the sex of the child. It is outlawed in several countries, such as India, Canada, and China, to prevent people from choosing to have male children.


Musk’s first child, Nevada, was born to his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, but tragically passed away at just 10 weeks old. Following this loss, the couple turned to IVF and had five more children. Among them, their eldest twin came out as a transgender woman at the age of 18. In 2022, Xavier Musk legally changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson, adopting her mother’s surname to sever ties with Musk.