The record of on a regular basis of us and celebs who cannot stand Elon Musk is lengthy — and nonetheless rising. Nonetheless, regardless of the main focus so usually being on the shady facet of Musk, the tech genius hasn’t at all times had it straightforward. Sure, he is price billions and, as of 2025, was the richest man on the planet, however he is had removed from an enchanted life.

As Musk has so usually instructed his followers, he does not take into account his childhood a cheerful one, largely on account of his dwelling life. Whereas he credit his dad with instructing him the basics of physics, engineering, and development that may assist form his profession, Musk is adamant he is needed to work exhausting for every part he is ever achieved. “Have not inherited something ever from anybody, nor has anybody given me a big monetary present,” he as soon as tweeted. However his strained relationship together with his father is not the one darkish cloud he is skilled. That is the tragic reality of Elon Musk.

For so long as his household can keep in mind, Elon Musk was a voracious reader, searching for data on a large breadth of topics. In actual fact, he confirmed a lot promise that Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, determined to start out his training early. Nonetheless, that meant “Elon was the youngest and smallest man in his college,” Maye instructed Esquire in 2012. Between his giant mind and small stature, he rapidly grew to become the goal of bullies. “Children gave Elon a really exhausting time, and it had a big impact on his life,” brother Kimbal Musk recalled. Making issues worse, sister Tosca Musk shared how going to high school in Pretoria, South Africa, was nothing just like the U.S. “There was no recourse,” she instructed the magazine. “[Elon] hated it a lot.”

Certainly, that hatred was justified. As Elon instructed biographer Walter Isaacson, the torment wasn’t simply psychological; it was additionally bodily. Maybe the worst incident occurred in highschool when a verbal altercation turned violent. The long run Tesla CEO was brutally overwhelmed, kicked quite a few occasions within the head and pushed down concrete stairs. “Once they acquired completed, I could not even recognise his face,” Kimbal instructed Isaacson. “You would barely see his eyes.” Elon was rushed to hospital and missed every week of college, however his accidents lasted for much longer. In Might 2013, he tweeted that he was left with a jagged septum that bothered him for many years. “More durable to breathe as I acquired older, so time to repair,” Elon wrote.

He will be the richest man on Earth, however Elon Musk didn’t develop up within the lap of luxurious. Though his father, Errol Musk, was rich, he was additionally extremely strict and refused to share his riches. Talking to Esquire in 2012, Elon’s sister, Tosca Musk, recalled how they had been the one household she knew with none kind of employed assist. “He’d have us play this sport,” she mentioned of their dad. “We might should do every part an American youngster would do: We might have to wash the home, mow the garden, do all types of American chores.”

Nonetheless, making their childhood really tough was mother Maye Musk’s unhappy love story. Because the matriarch later confessed to Harper’s Bazaar, Errol was abusive, and he or she feared leaving him. “He instructed me again and again that I used to be silly, ugly, boring,” Maye revealed. “He was very wealthy, however he made positive I had nothing.”

In the end, she and the children ran away when Elon was 8, and Maye got down to rebuild their life, nevertheless it was an uphill climb. “I introduced my youngsters up as a single mom with little or no cash,” Maye instructed The Guardian. Later, they moved to her native Canada in 1989 and right into a one-bedroom residence in Toronto, then a rent-controlled unit. “It took three weeks to wash, then I saved to purchase $5 sheets,” Maye instructed the magazine, noting how Elon slept on the sofa. “Ultimately, I purchased beds, then a pc, and after that chairs — you may at all times work on the ground,” she mused.

Elon Musk’s relationship with dad Errol Musk fully disintegrated through the years. As a baby, Elon witnessed his father abusing his mom, even as soon as attempting to bodily cease him when he was 5 years outdated. He additionally skilled Errol’s harshness first-hand, telling biographer Ashlee Vance that Errol made life depressing — accusations Errol has denied. “Elon must develop up,” Errol instructed the Every day Mail in 2018.

Even so, that hasn’t stopped Elon from portray his father in a nasty gentle. Talking to biographer Walter Isaacson, the billionaire recalled how he would frequently be instructed he was pathetic by his father. “It was psychological torture,” Musk mentioned. “He positive knew easy methods to make something horrible.” One specific incident that reduce deep adopted the bullying incident that despatched him to hospital. Elon mentioned he acquired no compassion from his dad, who, shockingly, sided with the bullies. “I needed to stand for an hour as he yelled at me and referred to as me an fool and instructed me that I used to be simply nugatory,” Elon instructed Isaacson.

Apparently, Elon determined to stay alone together with his dad for some time. After Maye Musk moved the children away when Elon was 8, he returned to his father’s at age 10. “That is due to his evil grandmother — she made him really feel responsible,” Maye instructed Harper’s Bazaar. Elon himself mentioned to Rolling Stone he felt sorry for his dad as a result of “he appeared very unhappy and lonely by himself.” Sadly, it was a mistake. “He was such a horrible human being,” Elon alleged.

Elon Musk acquired tremendous wealthy due to his tech savvy, however his enterprise acumen hasn’t at all times been as spectacular. It began in 1995 when Elon and his brother Kimbal Musk based their first software program firm, Zip2. Simply 4 years later, they offered it for a whopping $307 million, with Elon banking $22 million. Fairly than taking a break, he used half of that cash to start out X.com that very same 12 months, an organization that may ultimately morph into PayPal and be purchased by eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. Following that transaction, Elon netted $165 million and once more wasted no time reinvesting his money. He based SpaceX simply months later and have become the Chair of Tesla Motors in 2004.

Since then, each firms have turn out to be huge successes and but, in 2010, Elon revealed he was getting ready to chapter. In accordance with courtroom paperwork filed as a part of his divorce from his first spouse, Justine Musk, Elon admitted, per The New York Occasions, “About 4 months in the past, I ran out of money.” Seems he had invested each final cent into his firms to maintain them afloat and, in doing so, was compelled to start out residing off of loans from mates.

Along with utilizing up all of his cash, Elon Musk’s dedication to his job has required quite a few different sacrifices. Talking to The New York Occasions in 2018, Musk claimed he hadn’t taken off greater than every week from work since 2001 — and that was as a result of he was sick with malaria. Tesla, particularly, took an enormous toll, particularly when he tried to maintain manufacturing of the Tesla Mannequin 3 on observe in 2018. Along with working 120-hour weeks, Musk would usually sleep on a convention room sofa (typically on the ground) and refuse to even go exterior. “There have been occasions after I did not depart the manufacturing facility for 3 or 4 days,” he instructed the outlet. “This has actually come on the expense of seeing my youngsters, and seeing mates.”

Certainly, he nearly missed his brother’s marriage ceremony in Spain that 12 months. Leaping on a flight with no time to spare, Musk landed two hours earlier than the nuptials, carried out his greatest man duties, and instantly flew again dwelling to the Tesla manufacturing facility. With such a busy schedule, the billionaire has admitted to utilizing the prescription drug Ambien to assist him sleep and instructed The New York Occasions that the rigorous tempo was taking a bodily toll as properly. “It is not been nice, really,” he mentioned of his well being. “I’ve had mates come by who’re actually involved.”

On the surface, it is simple to imagine that Elon Musk has every part he is ever needed. Nonetheless, he is been candid about his struggles with psychological well being. Throughout an look on the 2023 DealBook Summit, Musk instructed the viewers he has “demons of the thoughts,” which assist him be inventive however that additionally they have a darker facet. It is a notion he elaborated on throughout a 2024 dialog with Don Lemon, admitting, “There are occasions when I’ve kind of a adverse chemical state in my mind, like despair, I assume.” And but, he is been an outspoken skeptic of conventional medicine used to deal with despair, as soon as tweeting, “Zombifying individuals with SSRIs for positive occurs method an excessive amount of.” That is why, he instructed Lemon, he as an alternative prefers to take a small quantity of ketamine each different week, as prescribed by his physician. “Ketamine is useful for getting one out of a adverse way of thinking,” he mentioned of the drug usually used as an anesthetic.

Because it seems, Musk’s darker ideas return to his childhood. “I did have this existential disaster after I was round 12 about what is the which means of life,” he shared on the DealBook Summit, noting how the entire non secular and philosophical books he was studying left him asking, “Is not all of it pointless … Why exist?”

Elon Musk married first spouse Justine Musk in 2000, and so they started to develop their household two years later. The couple’s first youngster, Nevada Alexander, was born in 2002; nevertheless, simply 10 weeks later, the brand new mother and father skilled indescribable heartbreak. Their son immediately stopped respiratory whereas in his crib and was rushed to the hospital, the place he spent three days on life assist. Nevada in the end died on account of sudden toddler dying syndrome (SIDS), an unexplained situation wherein no reason for dying is definitely ever found.

Whereas Elon hasn’t spoken a lot concerning the loss, Justine instructed Esquire in 2012 that he did not know easy methods to deal with it and tried to disregard it, choosing a stiff-upper-lip strategy. “He does not do properly at nighttime locations,” she defined. “He is ahead shifting and I feel it is a survival factor with him.”

The tech entrepreneur has since referred to as Nevada’s dying the worst factor that is ever occurred to him and truly banned Alex Jones from X (previously Twitter) in 2022 for claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook college taking pictures was a hoax. “I’ve no mercy for anybody who would use the deaths of kids for acquire, politics or fame,” he slammed.

Elon Musk is a father of 12 who has usually quipped about repopulating the earth, however in accordance with one among his youngsters, his parenting is not precisely top-notch. Musk and daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson have been publicly feuding since 2022 when she filed to legally change her gender identification, in addition to her identify. In papers seen by TMZ, the 18-year-old defined her determination to drop her well-known final identify by slamming, “I now not stay with or want to be associated to my organic father in any method, form or type.”

It appears the sensation was mutual, as Musk instructed psychologist Jordan Peterson, “I misplaced my son, basically” (by way of Every day Wire). He additionally alleged he was tricked into signing papers he did not perceive, which allowed Wilson to obtain gender-affirming care, and claimed she was “killed by the woke thoughts virus.” Wilson wasted no time firing again. Talking with NBC Information in 2024, she accused her father of being absent and mocking her at a younger age for being female. “He’s uncaring and narcissistic,” she instructed the outlet. “He was continuously yelling at me viciously as a result of my voice was too excessive — it was merciless.”

Musk maintained that his youngsters had been at all times pleased with him rising up, however Wilson once more countered his facet of the story, this time in a prolonged Threads publish. “You aren’t a household man, you’re a serial adulterer who will not cease f***ing mendacity about your personal youngsters,” she fumed.

Elon Musk has put many issues on the again burner to ensure that his companies to succeed, and that features his private relationships. Certainly, his first marriage to Justine Musk fell aside in 2008 as a result of, as she wrote for Marie Claire in 2010, she may now not play second fiddle to his profession. “I did not wish to be a sideline participant within the multimillion-dollar spectacle of my husband’s life,” she recalled. “I needed to like and be liked, the best way we had earlier than he made all his thousands and thousands.” She pushed for remedy and Elon ultimately agreed to counseling, however after three periods, he in the end opted for divorce. “He was operating two firms and carrying a planet of stress,” Justine mused.

Elon’s relationship with singer Grimes confronted an analogous impediment. The pair, who first acquired collectively in 2018, had been on and off for years earlier than breaking apart for good in 2022. As Elon instructed Web page Six in 2021, his job wasn’t precisely making issues straightforward. “It is largely that my work at SpaceX and Tesla requires me to be primarily in Texas or touring abroad and her work is primarily in LA,” he shared.