Errol Musk Biography

Errol was born Errol Graham Musk, in 1946, in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa. His father was South African, and his mother was British. Errol first married his high-school sweetheart, Maye Haldeman, a Canadian model and dietitian, in 1970. Their first son, Elon, was born on June 28, 1971. A year later, Errol welcomed his second son, Kimbal, and in 1974, his daughter, Tosca, was born. Kimbal is now a renowned entrepreneur, philanthropist, and restaurateur, while Tosca is a film producer and director.

Errol and Maye got divorced in 1979. Following this, their sons spent their weekdays with Elon and their weekends with Maye. Tosca lived with her mother, as she was a toddler then. Errol later married Heide-Mari, a widow and a mother of three children. They had two daughters together, namely, Alexandra “Ali” Musk and Asha “Rose” Musk.

Errol earned massive wealth as an engineering consultant and as a real-estate developer. He owned several mines and other natural-resources infrastructure. Errol had a share in an emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika, Zambia. He also owned thoroughbred horses. He also had a private yacht and a 'Cessna' aircraft, as he enjoyed sailing and piloting back then. Errol would spend most of his holidays at the several posh homes he owned. One of them was in Waterkloof, a classy suburb of Pretoria, where Elon had spent most of his childhood after Errol and Maye got divorced. However, Errol retired quite early. By 1980, Errol was half-retired and eventually began to spend most of his time and money on travel.

Errol’s relationship with his children, especially with Elon, has always made newspaper headlines. Elon, who has rarely spoken about his father in public, has had an estranged relationship with Errol. In most of his interviews, Elon has described Errol as a terrible human being.

The rift between the father and the son developed soon after Errol divorced Maye. Errol’s terrible approach toward life and scandals contributed to the rift. The relationship worsened when Errol made a scandalous revelation of having fathered the child of his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout. Jana was just 4 years old when Errol had married her mother, Heide. Although Errol himself disclosed his relationship with Jana to the media, he had initially hidden the relationship. He later revealed that his sixth child, Elliot Rush, was a result of an impulsive sexual relationship with Jana after her break-up with her boyfriend. Initially, it was believed that Jana’s boyfriend was the father of her child, but a paternity test on Errol’s insistence revealed the truth. He justified this act by saying that he had never considered Jana as his stepdaughter, as she had been raised away from the family. Jana’s mother broke her 18-year-old marriage with Errol after this scandalous revelation.

Errol has also confessed to having several mistresses. He also had a criminal charge on him once. He once allegedly shot and killed three out of five burglars who tried to break into his home. Errol was later given a clean chit.

Elon, however, has often displayed his disgust toward Errol. While writing Elon’s biography, author Ashlee Vance was warned by Elon to not trust his father's statements. The writer has mentioned in the biography that Errol had not been introduced to Elon’s first child. Errol has responded to such statements by describing Elon as a spoilt child.

Despite such hatred and disgust, Elon still shows sympathy for Errol, as he feels his father is lonely and sad. He believes he has inherited his engineering skills from his father and refers to him as a brilliant engineer. In 1995, Errol had financed Elon and Kimbal’s first software company, 'Zip2.' After the company flourished, Elon brought Errol, his then-wife, and their children to Malibu to live together. However, things were not easy and Errol moved back to South Africa. He now lives in Langebaan in the Western Cape.