<\/p>\n
Elon Musk\u2019s mom has to \u201csleep in the garage\u201d when she visits him.<\/p>\n
The SpaceX founder may be worth billions but his mother Maye Musk insisted he isn\u2019t interested in possessions and lives a very simple life, so there is no luxury accommodation when she takes the trip to see him at Boca Chica in Texas.<\/p>\n
Maye said: \u201cI have to sleep in the garage. You can\u2019t have a fancy house near a rocket site.\u201d <\/p>\n
Asked if Elon is interested in possessions, she added to the Times magazine: \u201cNo, not at all in that sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 74-year-old model admitted it is a good thing her entrepreneur son hasn\u2019t always listened to her advice.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cHe should do whatever he wants. I told him not to do an electric car as well as rockets, and he didn\u2019t listen to me.\u201d <\/p>\n
While Maye \u2013 who also has son Kimbal and daughter Tosca with ex-husband Errol Musk \u2013 doesn\u2019t share Elon\u2019s passion for space travel, she is open to the idea if her kids encourage it.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cYou have to have six months of preparation and isolation and that just doesn\u2019t appeal to me. But if my kids want me to do it, I will do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maye recalled how Elon and Kimbal fulfilled their promise to buy her a house and a car when they sold their software company Zip2.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on how she lived in a rented studio flat in San Francisco when she turned 50, she said: \u201cWe couldn\u2019t afford to have a birthday party. Then one of the investors in Elon and Kimbal\u2019s company said we could use her home. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo the kids picked up not so fancy food and they gave me a little wooden house and a little wooden car and promised me that one day they would buy me the real thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018That\u2019s so sweet,\u2019 thinking it would never happen. Next thing you know, that is what they did.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it still took a long time not to live with the fear.\u201d <\/p>\n
The fear? <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were hard times. Tosca and I were joking the other day about how we all lived in a one-bedroom apartment for a year. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor a long time after I left my marriage, I had a pain in my gut. I was so terrified about not being able to feed my kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Maye insisted her family\u2019s wealth hasn\u2019t changed \u201canything\u201d for them.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t change anything. My kids are still kind and caring. I still appreciate being here. When I first came to Paris at 21, I had $5 a day. I stayed in a room with one lightbulb hanging down.\u201d<\/p>\n