Ashley St. Clair says she turned down an alleged $40 million non-disclosure agreement because she wanted to speak openly about her experience with Elon Musk in Alex Gibney’s new documentary Musk.
St. Clair discussed the decision during a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, where Gibney’s documentary premiered. She said participating in the film was ultimately about demonstrating to her children that financial security should not come at the expense of speaking honestly.
“I hope the risk that I’m taking now in speaking out and trying to fight back at least helps a little bit,” St. Clair said.
Her appearance in the documentary places her personal story alongside Gibney’s much broader examination of Musk, whose influence extends across technology, electric vehicles, space exploration, artificial intelligence and social media.
Why Ashley St. Clair says she rejected the alleged payment
St. Clair alleges that she was offered a $40 million lump sum in connection with an NDA following the birth of her child with Musk.
She says she chose not to accept the proposed agreement, allowing her to participate in Gibney’s documentary and discuss her experiences publicly.
For St. Clair, the decision was not simply about money. She framed it as an example she wanted to set for her children.
She said she did not want them to learn that material comfort should take priority over telling the truth.
The reported terms of the proposed agreement are based on St. Clair’s account. Readers should therefore distinguish between her allegation and facts independently established through public records or statements from the other parties.
St. Clair reflects on her political past
St. Clair’s participation in Musk also marks a significant change in how she describes her own political history.
She previously became known as a right-wing commentator and promoted conservative positions, including anti-trans rhetoric. During the Venice discussion, she expressed regret over some of her earlier political activity.
St. Clair said she became involved in Republican politics when she was 18 and attributed some of her earlier views to her age and the people around her at the time.
She acknowledged that those circumstances did not remove her responsibility for the views she promoted.
Her comments add another layer to the documentary because St. Clair is not presenting herself simply as an outside observer of Musk. She is also examining her own earlier role within the political and online environment surrounding him.
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Alex Gibney says people were afraid to discuss Musk
For Gibney, the difficulty of making Musk was not primarily finding material about its central subject. It was finding people willing to speak.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker said he began working on the project in 2023 and encountered significant reluctance among people who had worked with, known or criticised Musk.
“The thing that struck me most, particularly early on, there was a tremendous sense of fear of talking,” Gibney said.
He said many potential interview subjects declined to participate.
That reluctance became part of the documentary’s larger story: Musk’s enormous wealth and influence have created an environment in which people may worry about the consequences of publicly challenging him.
Why the documentary became almost four hours long
Gibney initially expected to make a considerably shorter film.
But the scope of Musk’s activities changed during production, particularly as his political involvement expanded and his relationship with former US President Donald Trump became an increasingly important part of his public identity.
The finished documentary runs for nearly four hours.
Gibney said the film evolved because Musk’s role increasingly extended beyond the technology industry into American politics and the broader public conversation.
The result is intended as a wide-ranging examination rather than a conventional corporate biography.
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Musk declined to participate in the documentary
According to Gibney, the filmmaker contacted Musk but the billionaire declined to be interviewed for the project.
Musk has previously criticised the documentary and described it as a “hit piece.”
That absence is significant because much of the film’s interpretation of Musk comes through interviews with people who have observed his career, worked around him or challenged his decisions.
As a result, the documentary’s arguments and allegations should be evaluated with appropriate attention to sourcing and the distinction between interview testimony and independently verified facts.
Gibney’s criticism of Musk
Gibney does not take a neutral position toward his subject.
At the Venice press conference, the filmmaker described Musk in highly critical terms and questioned his capacity for empathy.
Gibney argued that Musk appears to have difficulty understanding situations from other people’s perspectives.
St. Clair went further, saying she believes Musk’s apparent lack of empathy represents a conscious choice.
Those are interpretations offered by the filmmaker and St. Clair, rather than clinical findings or independently established psychological conclusions.
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The larger Musk story
Musk arrives as the billionaire’s influence continues to reach well beyond the companies that made him famous.
Musk has built major businesses around Tesla and SpaceX, acquired Twitter before transforming it into X, and launched xAI, the artificial-intelligence company behind Grok.
His public profile has also changed dramatically through his increasingly direct involvement in political debates.
Gibney’s documentary attempts to connect these different chapters, asking whether Musk’s reputation as a technology visionary fully explains the extraordinary level of wealth and influence he has accumulated.
St. Clair says the risk is worth taking
For St. Clair, however, the most immediate question is personal.
She chose to participate in a documentary that examines one of the world’s most powerful individuals despite the financial consequences she says came with refusing the proposed NDA.
Her explanation was ultimately framed around her children and the principle she wants them to take from her decision.
“I hope the risk that I’m taking now in speaking out and trying to fight back at least helps a little bit,” she said.
Whether audiences agree with St. Clair’s account or Gibney’s assessment of Musk, her decision to appear in the documentary ensures that the film contains a perspective from someone with a direct personal connection to its central figure.
Musk therefore arrives in Venice not simply as another documentary about a technology billionaire, but as a contentious examination of wealth, political influence, personal relationships and the risks involved in challenging someone with extraordinary power.
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