Elon Musk’s mom, Maye, says she sleeps in a ‘garage’ when she visits him because ‘you can’t have a fancy house near a rocket site’. ‘So I just have an RV [recreational vehicle] in the parking lot of SpaceX,’ Maye said. The 67-year-old, who recently sold her home to move in with her son in California, said that she finds the living arrangement quite amusing because she’s also trying to get used to living without neighbors after being so used to having them in Africa and South Africa where she lived before moving to the United States decades ago.
At home with Maye Musk
Maye, Elon’s mother, says that she never slept at his house. She said it would have been too painful. Instead, she napped in her car before heading home to South Africa and slept in the garage when visiting. This might be because his house was not built yet and the environment around is full of obstacles due to the work of their space industry. Living close to Elon meant enduring lots of loud noise at all hours and even spying on their daughter just checking out the grounds occasionally with children. Still, she never complained because this was her baby boy!
The secret life of Elon’s mom
Maye, Elon’s mom, has always been more laid back than the CEO she raised. Growing up in South Africa during Apartheid and the global financial crisis, life has never been easy for Maye–and that makes it hard to know what Elon might need from his family while he tries his hardest to make the world a better place. I was a teenager when my eldest was born and it was really tough. You have all this help with babies but then you’re thrown into adulthood as well. These days, Maye gets to spend less time with her four kids (including Elon) because they have busy lives of their own, but she says there are moments when she misses being very hands-on with them.
What it means to sleep in a garage
Wondering what it means to sleep in a garage? You’ve likely heard of the term having your cake and eating it too which is really when you have your something you love and enjoy and still manage to not worry about anything. When Elon Musk’s mom, Maye, visits him she stays with him at the SpaceX headquarters where he launches rockets from his carpark-turned-launch pad. That might sound crazy but then again so does starting an organization for spaceships. Plus, everyone needs someone who will sacrifice for them–so kudos Mrs. M!
Meet the woman behind Elon Musk
Maye, the mother of Elon Musk has spent the past six decades living on their family farm and raising him and his siblings. Before he became famous for his incredible innovations, Elon used to sleep on a creaky porch overlooking Idaho’s mountains. Now, when she visits Elon at SpaceX or Tesla, she heads home before dark because you can’t have a fancy house near a rocket site. Maye says there is nothing they need that they don’t already have.
Why she stays close
I sleep in the garage, says Maye about staying at Elon’s house. There was no way I was going to stay by myself all night, knowing his rockets might decide to go off. If one of his rockets goes off, I’ll know it, she jokes. The mile and a half distance between their homes is far enough that if he launches at night or early morning, she knows not to panic. I just hope there are no earthquakes. With two of her kids running Tesla and SpaceX, who wants to retire? She considers herself lucky and thinks she has the best view around.
Although Maye jokes about being fearful of Elon’s rockets going off, she admits it is no joke. In 2012, one of his rockets actually did go off while they were sleeping. It was three o’clock in the morning and I was just dead asleep at that time. When I looked outside, there were two more blasts and I saw them firing off into space and then before it came back down on Earth I could see it gently rocking from side to side. She says it felt like their house was shaking from all of that. However, Maye says if it happens again she might think twice about staying so close by.
