I haven’t read Elon Musk’s biography, but as more details of his life emerge it’s fast moving to the top of my list. We told you earlier today about his father’s damning comments about South African ‘jock culture’, which he cites as being directly responsible for turning men like Oscar Pistorius into killers, and before that he spoke out about how they had victimised Elon for being nerdy and different.

But while these sound like the words of a doting father, the Musk household was far from a happy one, as the Sunday Times reported a few weeks back. Kimbal Musk (Elon’s brother) had this to say about his father:

He [Errol] is good at making life miserable – that’s for sure. He can take any situation no matter how good it is and make it bad. He’s not a happy man. I don’t know, f**k, I don’t know how someone becomes like he is. It would just cause too much trouble to tell you any more.”

Musk didn’t mince his words on the subject:

It would certainly be accurate to say that I did not have a good childhood. It may sound good. It was not absent of good, but it was not a happy childhood. It was like misery.”

The biography goes into more detail on the Musk childrens’ childhoods, and how those early days propelled Elon to escape to the US, and away from a father who “sucked the joy out of any situation”. Blimey.

It seems the wounds run deep:

Elon Musk and his first wife, Justine, have agreed that their children will never meet Errol. Musk ‘s mother, Maye, a former Miss South Africa finalist who was won over by Errol’s determined wooing, will not speak of what the family endured.

So it sounds like there is a lot more to Mr Musk Sr. than meets the eye, and as the media circus grows I’m sure it’s not the last we’ll hear from him.

You can read the full article HERE.

[source: The Sunday Times]