”It’s just not true.”

Ayumi Hamasaki is the best-selling solo artist in the history of the Japanese music industry, and having built up a massive fanbase in her nearly 30-year career means she sometimes pops up in some surprising projects. In December, for example, she had a creative collaboration with none other than Sailor Moon, and a year before that she was dabbling in baum cakes.

▼ She also still performs, too, and is on tour right now.

However, the 46-year-old J-pop songstress and mother of two took a moment this week to inform everyone that, whatever her myriad ventures may be, they have not included making a baby with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Hamasaki (known as “Ayu” among her fans) didn’t make her statement simply because Musk’s well-known proclivity for prodigious procreation makes him a perennial fatherhood suspect. In an interview with The New York Times in late May, Ashley St. Clair, one of Musk’s former romantic partners who claims to have given birth to one of his children in 2024, said that he had told her that he’d fathered the child of “a Japanese pop star.”

It’s important to note that the claim has not been substantiated in any form. However, once word of it reached Japan, public/online speculation started soon after, with Hamasaki’s name coming up frequently enough that she felt the need to respond, posting the following to her Instagram account on June 2.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on this, and I guess it’s time for me to speak up. Elon Musk is not the father of [either of] my children.”

Though firm in her manner of speaking, Hamasaki didn’t come off as angry. “Hahaha I mean, I can understand if someone were to think it seems like the sort of thing I’d do,” she added. “Even my mom laughed when she heard the rumors, saying, ‘This seems kind of Ayu-like,’ and if I were someone else, I’d probably be saying ‘Ayu is the pop star [St. Claire] was talking about, right?’”

Hamasaki didn’t go into the specifics of why she could understand people jumping to the conclusion that she had Musk’s baby, but odds are she was indirectly referring to her personal romantic resume. Hamasaki has been married twice, both times to non-Japanese men, and has been living in Los Angeles for several years. She’s given birth to two children following her second divorce, without publicly revealing who the father/fathers is/are.

“But it’s just not true,” Hamasaki said of the rumor that Musk fathered one of her children. “Setting aside my personal image, when my kids are old enough to start Googling things I don’t want them to run into the rumors and think they’re true, so I’m firmly denying them.”

▼ Hamasaki’s choice of car for her “Next Level” video is about as far as you can get from a Tesla, also.

Somewhat counter to Hamasaki’s stated intention of preventing future misunderstandings, she posted her statement as an Instagram Story, meaning that the message disappeared after 24 hours and is no longer visible. So if you’re reading this article 10 or 20 years in the future, Ayu’s kids, we’ll repeat it one more time: Elon Musk is not your daddy. Oh, and tell your mom hi for us!

Source: Narinari, People
Top image: Pakutaso
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