The family
The grandparents
Parents, siblings, and partners
The children
The personal timeline
The moments that shaped him, from Pretoria to the present.
Born in Pretoria, South Africa
Elon Reeve Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, the eldest child of engineer Errol Musk and Canadian-born model and dietitian Maye Musk. He grew up with a younger brother, Kimbal, and a younger sister, Tosca. His given names come from Maye's family.
Maternal grandfather dies in a plane crash
Joshua Norman Haldeman, Maye's father, was killed when his plane caught a power line during a practice landing in Pretoria. Elon was two.
Childhood reading and bullying
Elon Musk was a voracious reader who reportedly worked through the Encyclopaedia Britannica by about age nine. School was harder. He was severely bullied, including one beating that left him hospitalized for days.
Coded Blastar ~1983; published 1984
Coded ~1983 (age ~12). Published 1984 in PC and Office Technology for about $500. At about age 12, Elon Musk taught himself to program and built a space-themed game called Blastar. The code was published in a magazine, and he reportedly received around $500 for it.
Emigrated to Canada at 17
At 17, Elon Musk left South Africa for Canada, using citizenship obtained through his Canadian-born mother. He arrived with little money and took a series of odd jobs.
When I was seventeen, I got my Canadian passport. Three weeks later I was in Canada.
University of Pennsylvania degrees
Elon Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and earned dual undergraduate degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in physics and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School.
Left Stanford to start Zip2
Elon Musk moved to California and enrolled in a Stanford graduate physics program, then deferred almost immediately to co-found Zip2, an early online maps, directories, and publishing company.
Marriages and children
Elon Musk married author Justine Wilson on January 1, 2000. The couple had several children together before divorcing in 2008, after which Elon Musk married actress Talulah Riley.
Became a United States citizen
Elon Musk became a naturalized citizen of the United States, having moved from Canada to study and then to build his first companies.
Time-boxing the day
Elon Musk is known for time-boxing his day into short blocks, each assigned to a task. He has said he does not rigidly schedule every day in five-minute increments, because deep thinking needs longer uninterrupted stretches.
Vowed to own no house
Elon Musk announced on X that he would sell nearly all of his physical belongings and would not own a home, a public turn toward living with few possessions.
I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.
The story, in short
From humble beginnings. At about age 12 he sold Blastar to a magazine for about $500. That was a first paycheck, not startup capital. Zip2 was founded in 1995; the money that funded X.com / PayPal came from the Zip2 sale (about $22 million to Elon), not from Blastar.
The count. Elon Musk is the father of 14 children (13 living) with four women: Justine Wilson, Grimes, Shivon Zilis, and Ashley St. Clair.
Growing up in Pretoria. Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa, the eldest of three, ahead of his younger brother Kimbal and his younger sister Tosca.
A family split, then a choice. His parents divorced in 1980, when he was about nine. He chose to live with his father, a decision he later called a mistake.
From South Africa to Canada to the United States. At 17 he left South Africa for Canada, using citizenship obtained through his Canadian-born mother, then moved on to the United States for university.
Marriages, children, and loss. He married author Justine Wilson in 2000. Their firstborn, Nevada Alexander, died of sudden infant death syndrome at about ten weeks old in 2002.
Why he keeps having children: population collapse. He frames a large family as his answer to what he calls the biggest long-term risk to civilization: falling birth rates.
Balancing family with the companies. He time-boxes his day into focused blocks, while saying deep thinking needs longer stretches than a rigid five-minute grid.
How he lives. In May 2020 he announced he would sell almost all physical possessions and own no house. The wealth is held as equity in the companies, not property.
Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming
Elon Musk (@elonmusk), August 26, 2022
I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.
Elon Musk (@elonmusk), May 1, 2020
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