Elon Musk’s new biography sheds light on how he found out that his estranged father,Errol Musk, had fathered a second child with his former stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout.
“The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce,” said Errol, who has seven children, per the book. “If I could have another child I would. I can’t see any reason not to.”
Back in July 2022, Errol, then 76, toldThe Sunthat he and Bezuidenhout had a second child in 2019, two years after the birth of their son, Elliot Rush, in 2017.
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In a 2018 interview with the U.K.‘sSunday Times,Errol said he and Bezuidenhout began their relationship while hehelped her get over a breakup.
According to the outlet, Bezuidenhout was only 4 years old when Errol married her mother, Heidi. Errol and Heidi were together for 18 years and had two children before their divorce. Years later, Bezuidenhout and Errol would reconnect.
Chesnot/Getty; GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP via Getty
“We were lonely, lost people,” he told theTimes. “One thing led to another — you can call it God’s plan or nature’s plan.”
Errol said he did not consider Bezuidenhout to be his stepdaughter and claimed she spent most of her time away from the family while growing up.
In a series offollow-upmessages, he added, “I hope you have big families and congrats to those who already do!”
In addition to his two children with Zilis, Musk shares three children with Grimes and is also dad to 18-year-old twinsVivian Jenna Wilsonand Griffin, along with triplets Kai, Damian and Sax, who were born in 2006, with his first wife,Justine Wilson. The two had another son, Nevada, who died at 10 weeks.
Musk previously spoke about his fractured relationship with his father. In an interview withRolling Stonein 2017, he called Errol a “terrible human being” and said he first experienced a rift with his father when he was a child following his parents’ divorce.
“Yeah, I was sad for my father,” the SpaceX CEO — born in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa — toldRolling Stone. “But I didn’t really understand at the time what kind of person he was.”
He said he moved in with his father and soon realized it “was not a good idea.”
“He was such a terrible human being,” he said. “You have no idea.”
Elon Musk.Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty
Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty
Despite the criticisms, the billionaire also complimented his father’s engineering talents and said he inherited his own skills from Errol.
“In my experience, there is nothing you can do,” he toldRolling Stoneof his attempts to repair their relationship. “Nothing, nothing. I wish. I’ve tried everything. I tried threats, rewards, intellectual arguments, emotional arguments, everything to try to change my father for the better, and he… no way, it just got worse.”
source: people.com
