Elon Musk’s mum has told how the world’s richest man has little interest in possessions and even makes her “sleep in a garage” when she comes to stay.
Model and activist Maye Musk, 74, is now a celebrity in her own right, with roles that include being a Dior Beauty Ambassador but she tells how she struggled in the past through “hard times” following the end of her marriage to Errol Musk.
While Elon is now known around the world as the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Maye said that she always knew he was a geek from the age of three, and her nickname for him is “Genius Boy”, it is reported.
But despite his extreme wealth, the eldest of her three children has little interest in possessions and she says he "doesn’t even own a home".
Maye says that while she knew about Elon's potential she credits Elon’s younger brother Kimbal for bringing that out.
Kimbal is now is a restaurateur and entrepreneur who is on the board of SpaceX and Tesla.
“In the beginning, Kimbal was with him in the first company [a web software enterprise called Zip2] and Kimbal could explain what a computer is, what’s a cursor, what’s a mouse and the background as to why the programme is so great” Maye told The Times.
The sale of Zip2 saw the pair net $22 million.
Now Elon’s mum says that with Elon's business success he can “mix with people who are also shy. All his engineers are shy and nerdy.”
But she says that when she goes to visit him at SpaceX’s headquarters at Boca Chica, in Texas, she is afforded no luxury.
“I have to sleep in the garage. You can’t have a fancy house near a rocket site.” she said.
When asked if her son is interested in possessions she replied: "No, not at all in that sense.”
Elon appears to have been helped by his mum’s instructions that he and his siblings should always ask for what they wanted and she would “let them follow their own interests”.
She adds: "He should do whatever he wants. I told him not to do an electric car as well as rockets and he didn’t listen to me.”
But while she may not receive luxury when she comes to visit her eldest son, the two are very close and she is his biggest cheerleader.
Elon, the world's richest man, owns four mansions in Bel-Air, a pad in Brentwood, California, and another nearly 100-year-old mansion in San Jose.
He also owns a $45,000 (£37,160) house, mainly due to its location in Boca Chica, Texas, which is within walking distance of his SpaceX factory.
“The house that I bought actually costs less than what’s in a Boxabl,” Elon told the Full Send podcast. “It cost like $45k or something, but I’ve done a lot with the place.”
Boxabls are tiny homes and a building system that can be built to almost any style of house, costing between $5,000 (£4,100) and $50,000 (£41,200).
