Elon Musk says he was “tricked” into allowing one of his children who transitioned from male to female to take puberty blockers.
The chief executive of Tesla and Space X claimed he had been told his child, formally named Xavier, “might commit suicide” if he was not allowed to undergo gender transition.
The billionaire businessman said that as a result of the therapy, he had “lost” his son, now aged 20.
Xavier became legally known as Vivian Jenna Wilson in June 2022 after transitioning.
In a statement at the time Vivian said: “I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
She filed legal documents with a court in California requesting that she be recognised as female and for her new name to be registered.
Her mother is Justine Wilson, a Canadian writer and Mr Musk’s first wife. They divorced in 2008.
Alerted to ‘woke mind virus’
Mr Musk said the experience was pivotal in making him aware of what he calls “the woke mind virus”.
He frequently uses the phrase, a reference to what he regards as stifling political correctness and overly zealous progressive ideals.
He said he had vowed to “destroy” it, in part by taking over Twitter, now known as X.
“I was essentially tricked into signing documents for one of my older boys, Xavier,” he told Dr Jordan Peterson, a Canadian psychologist in an interview on The Daily Wire.
“This was before I had any understanding of what was going on. Covid was going on so there was a lot of confusion. And I was told Xavier might commit suicide…[it was] incredibly evil and I agree that people who have been promoting this should go to prison.
“I was tricked into doing this. It wasn’t explained to me that puberty blockers are actually just sterilisation drugs. And so I lost my son essentially.
“So my son Xavier is dead. Killed by the woke mind virus. So I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that. And we are making some progress.”