Why Elon Musk’s Parents’ Drama Outshines His Own?
The visionary behind SpaceX and Tesla is often in the media spotlight. His parents, on the other side, have their own histories marked by public scrutiny and controversies.
Musk usually stirs up plenty of headlines, but his family history seems to be another level of controversy. His dad, Errol Musk, is involved in scandals that make Elon’s situation seem tame, and by this, we mean having multiple children with his own stepdaughter.
Before becoming one of the richest men in the world, Elon was born to Errol Musk, who was an engineer, and Maye Musk, a supermodel. The couple had three children, and they split in 1979 after Errol admitted to cheating on his wife during their nine-year marriage.
Errol Musk—a life of complexity
Born in 1946 in Pretoria, South Africa, he is known to be an engineer, politician, and businessman. Between 1972 and 1983, he served as a city councilman in Pretoria, being associated with the Progressive Federal Party.
He admitted in an interview with Business Insider South Africa that at some point he made more money than he could handle, physically. “We were very wealthy. We had so much money at times we couldn’t even close our safe.” Errol also shared a moment when his sons got involved in the mining business, recalling that one time Elon and his brother Kimbal sold some emeralds at Tiffany & Co., simply walking into Tiffany’s and saying “Do you want to buy some emeralds?”
Even if Elon tweeted in December 2019 about his father, refuting his investments in his first company (“He didn’t own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt”), Errol claims to own half of an emerald mine. However, Elon credits his father for his engineering skills, saying he’s naturally good at engineering because he inherited it from his father.
“What’s very difficult for others is easy for me. For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this,” he told Rolling Stone.
As for the marriage with Elon’s mother, Errol Musk admitted that he had full responsibility in destroying the marriage, and in the end, it didn’t work out. Errol confessed that their post-divorce relationship is non-existent, as his ex-wife refuses to speak to him even if they are in the same room, a thing that happened multiple times.
Family drama with abuse claims and scandals that outshine Elon’s ventures
Even if Elon Musk dominates headlines with his controversial takes and bold moves, his family’s dark past makes his drama look mild. His father not only had shocking relationships but is also known for serious abuse allegations from Maye Musk, Elon’s mother.
Maye has spoken about the physical and emotional abuse she endured during their relationship, and she mentioned that everybody called him “the Pig” because of the way he treated her in public. She revealed in an interview that she was scared to tell anyone about the abuse.
In her memoir, “A Woman Makes a Plan”, she shared details of their turbulent relationship, describing a heartbreaking moment when Elon, aged 5, tried to protect her from Errol’s violent outbursts.
Shocking relationships
Errol is a father of seven, and he married Heide Bezuidenhout in the early ’90s. Heide was a young widow with two children, including Jana Bezuindenhout. The couple had two children together: Asha Rose and Alexandra.
Their marriage lasted two years, but the twist comes when two decades later Errol starts a romantic relationship with Heide’s daughter, Jana, his former stepdaughter. Errol and Jana welcomed two children, adding incredible drama to the Musk family saga.
“One thing led to another—you can call it God’s plan or nature’s plan,” Errol said in an interview.
Elon considers his father a terrible human being, a thing he was not shy to mention back in the day. Despite all this, the two seemed to have reconciled in recent years.
In November 2024, Errol found himself again in the spotlight, stirring controversy. This time was about backing up previous statements of Elon that hinted at support for selective human breeding. Errol said that he wouldn’t call it eugenics with every nation practicing a certain form of survival of the fittest and he linked human reproduction to horse breeding.
Maye Musk—Navigating Public Backlash
Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, she is a model and dietitian. Starting her modeling career at 12, she was the finalist in the 1969 Miss South Africa beauty competition. May built a successful career both in modeling and nutritional science, holding two master’s degrees in dietetics.
She shared in an interview that after divorcing Errol, she ended up in the position of housing and feeding three kids without maintenance, mentioning that poverty makes you work really hard. “I remember crying when one of my kids spilled milk. The saying goes, ‘Don’t cry over spilled milk.’ I cried because I couldn’t buy another milk that day,” she said in an interview with Huffington Post.
However, her dietitian skills helped her provide cheap and nutritious meals such as bean stews and peanut butter, and even if she worked a lot, taking care of her children was the top priority. When she modeled, she often brought her three kids with her to shows.
Maye Musk also stirred some public backlash with some questionable comments, facing criticism
In October 2024 she seemed to encourage voter fraud during the presidential election. In an X post, because “you don’t have to register to vote,” she “invited” people to go with 10 fake names to 10 polling booths and vote 10 times, ending up with 100 votes, as this wouldn’t be illegal.
Original post: “The Democrats have given us another option. You don’t have to register to vote. On Election Day, have 10 fake names, go to 10 polling booths, and vote 10 times. That’s 100 votes, and it’s not illegal. Maybe we should work the system too.”
Next month, she kept the spotlight on with a racially insensitive remark about the reporter writing the book on Elon, calling him a Vietnamese-American via X, a post currently deleted.
Later, Maye appeared on Fox Business Network, gushing over Elon, who had just been appointed by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency.
Maye mentioned that she doesn’t like that her son is described as “wealthy” or a “billionaire,” stating, “I think it’s degrading.” She proclaimed Elon as “the genius of the world,” saying that this is why people love him.
Thanks to Maye’s Canadian roots, her children were able to get a Canadian passport, and at 18, Elon headed there after graduating high school, followed by his siblings. Maye told Forbes that at some point she worked 4 jobs and built a new life in Canada.
“I was a research officer at the University of Toronto. I was teaching two nights a week at a nutrition college and two nights a week at a modeling agency. I modeled, I gave talks, and I had a private practice.”
With such a family history, there is no wonder Elon Musk’s personal life is as headline-worthy as his ventures in space and tech.
If you’re interested in his life and inventions and want to learn more, here is where you can find Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, by Ashlee Vance.
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