Grimes draws criticism for saying she couldn’t afford house without Elon Musk’s help

Grimes has divided opinions after calling on her followers to petition against rising house prices in Austin, Texas.

“My fellow Texans! Petitions can feel useless but I guarantee local politicians are taking these seriously,” the musician tweeted on Monday (26 September).

“Plz sign to reduce housing costs in Austin. There’s effective legislation on the table here but we need public support.”

The post comes as the father of her two children, Elon Musk, knocked rival Jeff Bezos off the top of Forbes’ richest Americans list for the first time with an estimated wealth of $250bn (£233bn).

Grimes later responded to a commenter who wrote: “Grimes you are set, your opinion on ‘the housing market’ is invalid.”

“First of all I couldn’t afford to buy a house that fits my kids in Austin atm without help from their dad which is INSANE cuz I’m a p[retty] successful artist,” she wrote.

“Secondly, these aren’t my opinions, I’ve just agreed to help out some actual experts/ policy makers.”

The commenter followed up to her reply, saying: “That's what I'm meaning, their dad will help and get it done. You're set.”

While some were critical of the singer saying she was only able to buy a house with the help of her billionaire ex-boyfriend, others praised her for sharing her message about housing equality.

One person tweeted: “She’s trying to help people that arent rich, bro. You know most people arent, right? Housing prices are INSANE the Fed is raising interest rates like crazy and a lot of people probably cant even afford a mortgage. Be grateful you can, you’re lucky.”

Another noted that Grimes is from Canada where the housing crisis is well-documented: “Yeah she grew up in Vancouver and the housing crisis here is insane. I literally saw a 2 bedroom house with no bathroom... sell for nearly 2 million. It wasn’t even well built either.”

Grimes gave birth to her and Musk’s first child on 4 May 2020, naming him X AE A-XII.

In March 2022, Grimes revealed that she and Musk welcomed their second child via surrogate, a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl Musk.

The pair are co-parenting their children after splitting up in September 2021. They had been in a relationship since 2018.