Elon Musk’s Mother Sleeps in Her Son’s Garage: ‘If There’s a Roof Over Your Head, That’s Luxury’

78-year-old Maye Musk has revealed that when she visits her son Elon at Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site in Texas, she sleeps right in his garage. According to Maye, sleeping on the floor or on a mattress is no problem for her — what matters is having a roof over her head.

It seems that Elon Musk’s habit of getting by with very little really does run in the family.

The billionaire himself is known for his relatively modest lifestyle and lack of a permanent home. He prefers staying with friends or living in temporary and rather austere conditions.

His 78-year-old mother, Maye Musk, is equally unfazed by a lack of creature comforts. She grew up taking trips into the Kalahari Desert and, until she was 60, often stayed overnight at friends’ homes.

“If I have a couch or a mattress on the floor, I’m perfectly happy. Sleeping on the floor — there’s a roof over your head. That’s luxury,” Maye Musk told The New York Post.

When she visits Elon at Starbase — SpaceX’s facility in Texas, where the company develops and launches rockets — she sleeps in her son’s garage.

This practical approach reflects her life philosophy in many ways. Maye Musk raised three children as a single mother, built a career and created a life for herself despite difficult circumstances. She discusses that journey in her new book, Timeless: The Art of Reinvention and Resilience at Any Age.

“Many people in this world are suffering terribly and don’t think there’s any way out. They need to focus on something else: How are you going to get yourself out of this terrible situation?” Maye says.

It was a question she herself had to face when she was in her early 30s. After several years of marriage to Errol Musk, whom she describes in her book as someone who subjected her to physical and emotional abuse, Maye left him and began supporting herself and their three children — Elon, younger son Kimbal and daughter Tosca.

Errol Musk denied Maye’s allegations of abuse in an interview with The New York Times last year.

As a single mother, Maye juggled several jobs. She worked as a private dietitian, taught nutrition and simultaneously pursued a modeling career to support her family.

“You can do without dinners, without going to the movies, without fashionable clothes and without a lot of things — the important thing is not to have someone around who is constantly behaving terribly and yelling at you,” she recalls.

At 50, Maye moved to New York. She says she was drawn to the city because its residents “walk fast, talk fast and think fast,” making New York the perfect place for her to focus on her modeling career.

Now, approaching 80, Maye has no intention of slowing down. Her careers as a model, dietitian, speaker and social media star continue to evolve. In 2022, she became the oldest woman ever featured in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, and she is now a CoverGirl ambassador.

“I would say my 70s were the best. Really, they were my best years,” Maye says.

Her active lifestyle, however, requires plenty of work. Maye lives in central New York and spends about four hours every morning working on her social media accounts, as well as considering offers for photo shoots and speaking engagements.

Someone of her status would normally hand such tasks over to a team of professionals, but Maye prefers to do everything herself.

Clearly, her children inherited the same philosophy — not only Elon, but also director Tosca and Kimbal, who transitioned from a technology entrepreneur to a chef.

Despite her unwavering support for her eldest son, Maye admits that she sometimes struggles to understand the way he thinks. She recalls how, many years ago, Elon once came down to breakfast and announced that he had spent the entire night designing rockets.

“And what can you possibly say to that?.. I can’t offer him any expert knowledge. All I can offer him is scrambled eggs,” she says with a laugh.

But Maye also sees another side of her famous son — a softer, family-oriented one. According to her, Elon genuinely adores his children.

“When he’s with his children, nobody else exists. He just plays with them. He’s very sweet. He’s funny. But he’s incredibly smart. He’s a genius. Truly a unique person, a genuine genius on a global scale,” Maye says.

After the publication of her book A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success in 2019, public perceptions of Elon Musk changed significantly.

The entrepreneur found himself at the center of intense political controversies. Left-wing activists threatened to blow up one of Kimbal Musk’s restaurants, called Elon a Nazi, and Tesla dealerships were subjected to acts of vandalism.

Maye openly disagrees with some of the coverage of Elon and admits that she has sometimes tracked down journalists on X when she felt their reporting was unfair.

“I would find the journalist who wrote the article, find their account so I could tag them and say, ‘How dare you.’ I was angry… It gave me some relief. Of course, it didn’t stop them,” she said.

Political disagreements have also arisen in Maye’s personal life. She recalled a conversation with a friend who supported an open immigration policy. Maye asked her whether she would want to live next door to young men without legal status. Her friend replied: “Just not next to me.”

Immigration is a subject Maye knows firsthand. It took her decades to obtain U.S. citizenship. Although her father and her grandparents were American and were born in the American Midwest, Maye herself was born in Canada. As a result, she lived and worked in the United States on visas for about 12 years before obtaining a green card. It took another five years before she was granted citizenship.

“When you get citizenship… you just cry. You’re so happy,” Maye recalls.

She remains focused on new projects. In the coming weeks, she is due to travel to Hong Kong, Austin, Buenos Aires and Shanghai, where photo shoots and speaking engagements await her.

And although Maye Musk is approaching her 80th birthday, she does not even want to hear about retirement.

“I’m having a wonderful time,” she says.