Ashley St. Clair, 26, stunned social media on Friday when she revealed Musk, 53, as the father of her child, sparking a media frenzy and intensifying speculation about the tech mogul’s already complicated family life.

Now, a friend of the MAGA influencer insists her public revelation wasn’t a bid for attention, but a desperate cry for help.

‘Ashley got wind that a tabloid was kicking the tires on her, and she reached out to Elon immediately,’ her friend told the NY Post. ‘He basically cut bait, and the message was clear – she was on her own.’

She claims St. Clair had no choice but to get ahead of the story after Musk allegedly failed to respond to her requests for guidance when reporters came calling.

‘She realized, ‘OK, I’m out in the cold, I have to handle this myself,’ her friend added.

St. Clair, a longtime Babylon Bee writer, reportedly expected Musk to step in and help protect their son from unwanted media attention – similar to the arrangements he allegedly has with the mothers of his other children.

Her friend explained that St. Claire assumed she would raise the child alone, but that that tech mogul would remain present in the backgrounds of their lives.

Musk, who is already a father to 12 other children from three different women, has yet to confirm or deny St. Clair’s claims.

However, he did respond with a cryptic ‘whoa’ on X, formerly Twitter, after a user accused St. Clair of spending years trying to trap the Tesla tycoon.

That prompted St. Clair to fire back in a since-deleted post, that read: ‘Elon, we have been trying to communicate for the past several days and you have not responded.

‘When are you going to reply to us instead of publicly responding to smears from an individual who just posted photos of me in underwear at 15 years old?’

St. Clair has reportedly been left emotionally shaken by Musk’s silence.

‘You expect protection from the father of your child,’ her friend added. ‘And when that doesn’t happen, it’s devastating.’

It comes after St. Claire’s strategist, Brian Glicklich, took to X to release a statement amid the ongoing drama.

He wrote: ‘Ashley & Elon have been privately working towards the creation of an agreement about raising their child for some time.

‘It is disappointing that a tabloid reporter, who repeatedly ambushed Ashley and her family, made it impossible to complete that process confidentially.

‘We are waiting for Elon to publicly acknowledge his parental role with Ashley, to end unwarranted speculation, and Ashley trusts that Elon intends to finish their agreement quickly, in the best interests of the wellbeing and security of the child they share.’

St Clair and the billionaire had already set tongues wagging over her public flirtation with the world’s richest man on his social media site, X.

They had been messaging each other in public since May 2023 with risqué jokes about ‘d*** pics’, innuendo-laden references to ‘pulling out’, ‘how babies are made’ and ‘horny jail’.

He wished her happy birthday last July, she sent him heart emojis, he sent her a lengthy list of book suggestions and told her ‘this is the absolute best time in history to have kids!’

Friends of the influencer knew something big was happening in her life when she allegedly asked them to sign NDAs, as rumors of her relationship with Musk spread.

She then kept her pregnancy largely under wraps, keeping her on-camera appearances last year tightly cropped, and not appearing at public events for several months.

But once the baby was born, she continued her meteoric rise in MAGA circles, including showing up at Donald Trump’s election night party at Mar-a-Lago.

Around a year ago, the right-wing influencer moved into a swanky Manhattan apartment near City Hall, costing an estimated $12,000 to $15,000 per month.

One resident of the exclusive condo tower, which has been home to VIPs and celebrities, said St Clair was the first person he knew to get a Tesla Cybertruck – and he wondered how the young influencer afforded it.

Neighbors also said St Clair was apparently living as a single mom, but has a full-time nanny looking after her two children: Musk’s alleged baby and a toddler from her previous relationship.

Yet, staff at St Clair’s luxury condo tower say they have not seen any sign of Musk – adding that they would have had to ‘shut down’ the building to accommodate his security detail had he visited.

‘The Elon Musk thing doesn’t surprise me,’ a resident of the building told DailyMail.com. ‘She was definitely one of the first people in a pretty large, luxury building to get a Cybertruck.

But the recent allegations have put a spotlight on Musk’s complicated personal life.

The billionaire first became a father with Canadian author Justine Wilson, with whom he had six children.

Tragically, their first son, Nevada Alexander, died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) at just 10 weeks old.

Musk later welcomed three children with singer Grimes, including his son X Æ A-Xii, who has appeared alongside his father at major events like the presidential inauguration.

He also shares three children with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, including twins Azure and Strider.

If St. Clair’s claims are true, this child would be Musk’s 13th – though she has reportedly received no support from the other mothers in Musk’s life.

The social media firestorm surrounding St. Clair’s announcement was only intensified when, shortly after her post went viral, Zilis shared a photo of her twins playing during a meeting between Musk and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – a post Musk responded to with a heart emoji.

St. Claire’s pal believes the timing wasn’t accidental, telling the newspaper that she thinks ‘it’s pretty telling’.

Despite the online attacks from trolls, St. Clair is said to be laser-focused on her children, with her friend explaining that the mother’s priority at the moment is making sure her kids are okay amid the public drama.

Musk has remained silent since his ‘whoa’ comment, leaving the paternity of St. Clair’s son an open question – and the young mother to navigate the fallout alone.

St. Claire is known for publishing conservative children books, starting with Elephants are Not Birds in 2021.

The book ‘tackles the topic of gender identity’ and functioned as an ‘unapologetic rebuke of transgender acceptance’.