Makes Statement

Musk biographer Walter Isaacson says Musk told him “vivid and psychologically brutal tales” about his past, calling his father “evil” and a “terrible human being,” while Errol gave his side “forcefully.” (Musk previously described his father as “evil” in a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone.) Isaacson’s biography describes Musk being beaten regularly by bullies as a boy, but says the physical scars from that trauma were “minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father – an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.” Isaacson says Musk inherited many of his most distinctive traits from his father Errol, who “instilled his drive but also his demons, beginning at an early age.” Crying, Musk said this about his father:

He was such a terrible human being, you have no idea. My dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil. He will plan evil. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done. It’s so terrible, you can’t believe it.