Maye Musk, the 78-year-old mother of tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has revealed her own minimalist approach to living, including sleeping in her son's garage at Starbase, SpaceX's Texas facility. She shared that she is comfortable with basic accommodations, stating, “If I have a couch or a mattress on the floor, then I’m good. Sleeping on the floor — there’s a roof over your head. That’s a luxury.”
Her attitude reflects a lifelong commitment to resilience and self-reliance, detailed in her new memoir, "Timeless: The Art of Reinvention and Resilience at Any Age." Maye Musk grew up camping in the Kalahari Desert and shared that she was couch-surfing until she was 60.
This ethos was forged in her 30s when she left her husband, Errol Musk, whom she has described as abusive, to raise Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca as a single mother. She juggled multiple jobs, including private dietitian, nutrition instructor, and model, in South Africa and later Toronto to support her family.
"You can do without dinners and you can do without movies or fancy clothes or anything, as long as you don’t have somebody who’s nasty around, shouting at you all the time,” she said.
Maye Musk moved to New York at age 50, seeking a faster pace to advance her modeling career. Now in her late 70s, she remains active, with a career that spans modeling, public speaking, and a significant social media presence. She was featured in the 2022 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition and is a current CoverGirl ambassador.
She dedicates four hours each morning to managing her social media and screening professional opportunities, a task she prefers to handle herself rather than delegate to a team. This diligent work ethic extends to her children, Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca, who have all embraced their own paths.
Maye Musk described her eldest son, Elon, as brilliant and a "genius of the world," recalling his childhood focus on designing rockets. She also highlighted his affectionate nature with his own children, noting that "When he’s with his kids, no one else exists. He just plays with them."
In recent years, Elon Musk has become a polarizing figure. Maye Musk has spoken out against what she perceives as unfair media coverage of her son, sometimes directly contacting journalists on X (formerly Twitter) to express her displeasure.
She also reflected on political issues, including immigration, drawing from her personal experience of taking decades to obtain U.S. citizenship. Born in Canada to American parents, she lived on visas for years before receiving a green card and eventually citizenship, a process that deeply moved her.
Despite nearing 80, Maye Musk has no plans for retirement, looking forward to upcoming travel for modeling shoots and speaking engagements in Hong Kong, Austin, Buenos Aires, and Shanghai. "I'm having the best time," she stated.